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Japanese car-maker Honda today said that it is studying the utility vehicle market for a possible entry in the next couple of years.
The company has said that it is looking at a seven-seater multi-purpose vehicle (MPV).
Jnaneswar Sen, senior vice president- Marketing & Sales, Honda Cars India, who was in Chennai to launch Honda Amaze sedan said that utility vehicles is a fast-growing segment, which all major OEMs are looking at seriously.
“We are studying the market to decide whether to launch it (7-seater MPV) or not. The study includes what people are looking from Honda in terms of style, practicality, quality, durability and price and see if Honda can offer that.”
The other product which the company is in development stage is a concept compact sports utility vehicle, which was showcased at the recent Detroit Motor Show.
Meanwhile, the company has said all its future new products or variants will also come with new diesel engine, which was launched recently.
“Customers can also expect a few diesel models from Honda, including the next-gen City. The year 2014 will also see an all-new Jazz and Civic,” said Sen. He ruled out the possibility of fitting the diesel engines in the existing models since cost of modification will be high.
The company entered the diesel market in India with the launch of the entry-level sedan Amaze recently.
Sen said, for long, Honda has been absent in the diesel category. However, the industry may be experiencing a slight shift to petrol, given the hike in diesel prices, said Sen.
He noted, petrol-diesel price difference which was around Rs 10 three back it has gone upto around Rs 25
“Whichever way the market moves, we will have the choice since it produce engines in-house,” he said.
Commenting about Amaze, he said, the company is betting big on the new model and said it would bring more customers to the company.
The company expects going by the current demand manufacturing capacity of this product alone will be in the range of around 4000-5000 a month of the 10,000 overall a month.
Honda ruled out possibility of exporting Amaze, as it want to focus mainly on the domestic market.
If the demand for Amaze going to be the same as it is at present, our capacity will be our limitation, said Sen, who added one should not get carried away with initial response.
