Brakes on Civic, CR-V car models: How Honda lost the plot in India

Honda, which is shifting its entire manufacturing facility to Tapukara in Rajasthan, however, says this will help it to rationalise cost and have a better shot at profitability

Last year, when Honda re-launched the Civic, its popular sedan, after a gap of six years, Rajesh Goel, head of Sales & Marketing at the Japanese car-maker’s Indian subsidiary, said the iconic model would, along with compact sedan Amaze and premium SUV CR-V, beat the growth rate of its peers in a slowdown year.

But then the pandemic struck, and the two-month lockdown worsened things. And today, Honda announced that it was closing its oldest plant, in Greater Noida, and also discontinuing the Civic and the CR-V in India.

“It’s a perform or perish signal from the headquarters,” says a