With rising interest rates and high fuel prices deterring buyers from purchasing new cars, Japanese auto major Honda Siel Cars India on Thursday introduced the new Jazz, priced between Rs 5.50 lakh and Rs 6.06 lakh. The pricing points are Rs 1.5 lakh cheaper than the outgoing version, which was available for Rs 7.12 lakh and Rs 7.56 lakh.
It is positioned in the premium compact car category, to take on the likes of the Hyundai i20, Volkswagen Polo, the new Swift, Toyota Liva and Ford Figo, among others. The Honda Brio is expected to be positioned in the same segment, though the product will come at a lower price tag, of below Rs 5 lakh.
Maruti Suzuki India Ltd have launched refreshed versions of their respective premium compact cars, the Jazz and the Swift, at aggressive pricing points to bring back consumers.
“The strong yen, rising input costs and inflation have been putting pressure on Japanese car makers. The new launches, the Jazz and Brio will add excitement to the market. This is a temporary slowdown; the industry will recover,” said Raman Kumar Sharma, senior vice-president, HSCI.
While MSIL launched an upgraded version of the Swift yesterday, tagged between Rs 4.22 lakh and Rs 6.38 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi), Honda
Jnaneswar Sen, senior vice-president (sales and marketing), HSCI, said: “Our research and development team has been working on improving the supply chain and operational efficiency since 2009. We have invested in setting up processes for manufacturing the Brio, which shares the same engine with the Jazz. The economies of scale have enabled us to cut costs and pass the benefits to consumers.”
The company has also been working on improving localisation levels across products.
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Sen said HSCI was selling about 500 units of the Jazz on an average every month in 2010-11. It had come down further to 200-250 units after April this year, due to supply constraints from Japan following the earthquake and tsunami. "In the next three to four months, supply will continue to be limited and once the situation improves, the volumes of Jazz will go up," he said, without sharing any sales target.
The hatchback is powered by a 1.2-litre petrol engine and would 16.7 km per litre.