Honda takes on Maruti SX4

Honda Siel Cars India has started training its sales force to counter the challenge of SX4, the sedan launched by car market leader Maruti Udyog on May 7.

The subsidiary of Japan's Honda Motor has circulated among its sales force a 12-page document giving eight reasons that make City a better buy than SX4. It refers to SX4 as "an ordinary mass car" and suggests that buying it will be a "compromise".

Curiously, Honda's effort has triggered cheer in Maruti, whose executives see this as an acknowledgement by Honda, one of the world's most respected car makers, of Maruti's capability in making big cars.

"We have to take every competition seriously. We have to tell the prospective customer how we are better," said Jnaneswar Sen, senior general manager, Honda Siel.

SX4, whose top-end variant costs a little less than the cheapest variant of City and has more safety features, sold an impressive 3,000 units (wholesale, including display and test drive vehicles) in the first six weeks after its launch. Honda, which had a production shutdown of five days in May this year, sold 2,838 units of City in the month compared with 3,724 in May last year.

Honda Siel executives point out that the company has had to divert some production capacity away from City to Civic, which was launched in July 2006.

City, for long the mid-size car market leader, has often been the target of advertising by rivals looking to lure buyers away from it.

Maruti too has given advertisement comparing SX4 with City and, of course, calling SX4 "better than Honda City at better price".

The fast-growing mid-size segment has seen numerous launches in recent times.

However, many of the new cars have sold more of their diesel variants than petrol. Both City and SX4 come with petrol-driven engines only.

Maruti's last mid-size car, Baleno, could never break the shackles of its pricing, which made it a somewhat expensive option in comparison to rival offerings.