Honda delays Jazz India launch to next fiscal

Backed by strong demand for cars like City, Amaze and Mobilio, HCIL has achieved sales volumes of more than 100,000 units current financial year

Riding high on the robust demand for its newly-launched multi-purpose vehicle Mobilio, and sedans Amaze and Honda City, Japanese auto maker Honda is considering delaying the launch of its hatchback Jazz, which was originally scheduled to be rolled out during March 2015, said Honda Cars India Limited (HCIL) president Hironori Kanayama.

"Last year, we have announced that we would come up with Mobilio and Jazz within this financial year. However, the demand for Mobilio is exceeding our expectations and hence we have started the second shift at our second plant at Tapukara in Rajasthan. The demand (for Mobilio) seems to be so strong that the launch of Jazz is slightly adjusted. Though we have not taken a decision as yet, we expect the launch of Jazz sometime during the next fiscal," he told mediapersons here on Thursday.

Backed by strong demand for cars like City, Amaze and Mobilio, HCIL has achieved sales volumes of more than 100,000 units in the current financial year, registering an overall growth of 43% during April-October 2014, with 101,442 units, as against 70,831 units during the corresponding period last year.

HCIL launched Mobilio in July 2014, and has sold 2,985 units of the MPV in October 2014. The company has sold 3,842 units of Amaze and 5,120 units of Honda City during last month.

Inaugurating the company's 200th dealership in India at Hyderabad, Kanayama said the company was aggressively expanding its network, with focus on existing and newer Tier-II and Tier-III cities.

"Around 75% of our dealership network is located in Tier-II and Tier-III cities. We plan to add 100 more new dealers by March 2016," he said, adding that network expansion was a critical part of HCIL's larger business goal of achieving sales of 300,000 units a year by March 2017.

Stating that HCIL's two manufacturing units in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan together have an installed capacity of 240,000 a year, Kanayama said the company was expecting the two facilities to hit full capacity utilisation during the next financial year. HCIL is contemplating expanding its present production capacity, he said, while declining to put any numbers or time frame.

Replying to a query on the petrol-diesel sales split, he said the company's petrol-diesel mix currently stands at 50:50. "At present, there is a Rs 10-11 per litre gap between diesel and petrol. We expect this gap to reduce further, changing our petrol-diesel sales ratio to 60:40 ... this is our current estimation," Kanayama.