Honda Cars India aims 50% rise in sales in North-East in FY15

Sales volume in North-East grew 38% at 1,733 units in 2013-14 as compared to 1,258 units in previous fiscal

Honda Cars India expects sales from the North-East to grow by about 50% during 2014-15 on the back of strong demand for its petrol-driven vehicles in the region.

"The market in North-East holds a lot of potential for growth of Honda Cars. We are expecting about 50% sales growth in this region during 2014-15," Honda Cars India Ltd (HCIL) Senior Vice-President (Marketing and Sales) Jnaneswar Sen told PTI.

The sales volume in North-East grew 38% at 1,733 units in 2013-14 as compared to 1,258 units in the previous fiscal, he added.

He said the company hopes to see robust growth in the North-East market on account of new models and expansion of sales network during the year.

When asked about the models driving growth for HCIL, Sen said: "Honda City and Honda Amaze have strong demand in the North-East region. The petrol models are more popular in this region.

"He said out of the total sales in the region, 60% come from the petrol variants of the models. During 2013-14, North-East contributed 8% of HCIL's sales for East zone and 2% to overall national sales, he added.

During the last fiscal, the company reported 83% rise in sales at 1,34,339 units as against 73,483 units during the previous year.

Talking about the respective states, Sen said: "Assam contributed the highest in North-East, accounting for 82% sales in 2013-14."

HCIL currently has sales outlets in Guwahati and Dibrugarh in Assam, Dimapur in Nagaland and Gangtok in Sikkim.

Sen said the company is planning to open new dealerships in Imphal in Manipur and Itanagar in Arunachal Pradesh in the coming few months.

Honda Cars India Ltd reported 18.08% increase in its domestic sales at 13,242 units in October this year as against 11,214 units in the same month in 2013.