Honda Siel Cars India (HSCI), a joint venture between Japan’s Honda Motor and Siddharth Shriram Group company Siel, is expanding sales network to Tier-II and Tier-III cities to boost sales of its small car, Brio, scheduled to be launched this festive season.
It has already opened dealerships in Ambala, Mandi, Rohtak and Coonoor, and is looking at adding another 25 outlets in a year.
Seki Inaba, HSCI’s marketing director, said, “Brio is important for the company, as with it we intend to widen our customer base. We want to target upcountry customers with this car.”
“At present, nearly 50 per cent of our sales come from the top seven-eight cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad. The remaining sales come from 69 cities. So, the potential to increase sales from the rest of the country is huge,” said Jnaneswar Sen, senior vice-president (sales & marketing), HSCI. HSCI has 125 sales centres in 77 cities.
HSCI’s premium compact car Jazz, sedans City, Civic and Accord, and sport utility vehicle CR-V are priced in the range of Rs 7.1 lakh and Rs 26.4 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi). Inaba said Honda products in all segments were priced slightly higher than its competitors’. “We want to remain distinctive in the products we offer.”
Brio, likely to be priced around Rs 5 lakh, would be the cheapest car in the company’s portfolio. The car, to be manufactured at the company’s Greater Noida facility in Uttar Pradesh, would have a localisation content of up to 80 per cent.
