Honda plans to export Mobilio to South Africa

The company already has around 7,000 bookings of the new MPV

Japanese car major’s Indian subsidiary Honda Cars India plans to export its new multi-utility vehicle Mobilio to South Africa in a few month’s time from now.

Back in India, the company plans to replicate the success the vehicle has had in Indonesia since in launch there in January, selling over 46,000 units.

Shigeru Yamazaki, senior vice president, sales and marketing, Honda Cars India Ltd (HCIL), said that there were plans to export the vehicle to South Africa.

“We will start exports in some time from now, the exact time is not yet decided,” he added. As for India, he added that the company already has around 7,000 bookings, and expected the vehicle to perform well in the domestic market.

R K Sharma, senior vice president and director, general affairs, HCIL pointed out that Honda had assembly plants in several countries across the globe, covering almost all major geographies, and hence the scope for exports for local units was limited.

HCIL has priced the seven-seater multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) competitively starting from Rs 6.7 lakh (petrol variant) to Rs 11.19 lakh (diesel RS variant). However, the company was conscious that it did not wish to brand the vehicle as a taxi. “We are trying to create a new segment through this vehicle, the Maruti Suzuki Ertiga being the closest competition,” Yamazaki said.

Meanwhile, the company is planning to have 230 outlets across 150 cities in the country by March 2015. “Of this, nearly 75 per cent will come up in smaller towns and cities,” Yamazaki said.

The company currently has 179 outlets across 114 cities.  After registering an 83 per cent year-on-year growth in FY14 to 134,000 vehicles, the company has set an ambitious target of selling over 200,000 units this fiscal. Yamazaki said that in the longrun, the company planned to reach 300,000 units in annual sales by March 2017. At that time, Honda’s global sales would be around 6 million vehicles.

The company currently has an installed capacity of 240,000 cars combining its two plants at Greater Noida (National Capital Region) and Tapukara (Rajasthan). Sharma said that in order to meet the growing demand, capacity at the Tapukara facility can easily be doubled.