Honda targets 15% sales growth next fiscal

Honda Siel Cars India (HSCI), a joint venture between Honda Motor Company, Japan and Siel India is targeting sales of close to 42,500 of its premium segment cars in fiscal 2005-06.

The company also plans on increasing its manufacturing facilities from the present 30,000 units to 50,000 units by October this year.

Speaking on the sidelines of a function to announce the launch of a second showroom by HSCI's dealer Dakshin Honda, H Yamada, president and CEO, Honda Siel Cars India said, "We plan to reach our announced targets of around 37,000 units of car sales this fiscal. The break up would be around 3300 units of Accord and 1600 units of our CR-V. The rest will comprise the City. For the next fiscal of 2005-06, with the announced targets, we hope to grow more than the market average."

He added that the market this fiscal had grown by a little less than 15 per cent and is expected to grow at 13 per cent during the next fiscal. No details were available on the exact investment that is being put in to increase manufacturing capacity.

HSCI closed 2004 with a total car sales of 35,414 units and with this the company claims a clear 22 per cent market share in the premium segment in India at end-2004. Of this the New City model sold 30,834 units and the company says it commands a 27 per cent market share in the country.

When asked about HSCI's plans for introduction of a small car in the market, company spokespeople said that there was a huge backlog for the present models in the Indian market and it would seek to finish with the backlog before introducing any further models in the country.

"The Indian automobile market is growing driven by a change in the buying environment. This is fuelled by higher incomes, the lowering of automobile prices and the fact that finance is easily available. HSCI is working to be number one in the premium car segment which we define as a combination of C and D segments along with the SUV model," said Yamada.

HSCI was established in December 1995 and introduced its City model in December 1997. The Accord was launched in 2001 and the CR-V was launched in 2003. The manufacturing plant of the company is located at Greater Noida.