The benefit of the excise duty cut from 24 per cent to 14 per cent will be proportional to its localisation. While the average price of a non-hybrid Civic is pegged at Rs 12 lakh, Honda says the price of the Civic hybrid is yet to be finalised. The hybrid variant will be 60 per cent more fuel efficient. The company has not indicated sales numbers for the car. |
The company plans to introduce its hatchback compact Jazz by the last quarter of 2009.
Today, Honda launched the 8th generation of its bestselling car Accord, positioned at the upper end of the A5 premium segment according to Siam's classification, competing against Toyota's Camry and Skoda's Laura. While the premium segment grew by 6 per cent last year, the auto major expects this segment to post double-digit growth during this year.
Speaking on the launch of the latest version of Accord, Masahiro Takedagawa, president & CEO, Honda Siel Cars, said, "The 8th generation Accord is an epoch making innovation. It offers tangible benefits to customers." The new generation Accord was launched in the US in December 2007.
Since the introduction of Accord in India in 2001, the auto maker has sold 16,000 units of the model and is rated the No 1 premium car in the country.
While the company sold about 3,000 Accords last year, the sales target for the new 8th generation Accord this year will be a tad higher.
The new generation Accord comes in 3 variants "� Accord 2.4, Accord 2.4 Elegance, and Accord 2.4 Inspire "� and are available in the manual & automatic transmission variants and priced between Rs 16.49 lakh and Rs 18.14 lakh.
