Japanese auto major Honda Motor Corporation (HMC) on Tuesday forayed into the intensely competitive compact car segment in India with Brio, a premium hatchback.
The car is the company’s cheapest offering till date. Tagged between Rs 3.95 lakh and Rs 5.10 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi), Brio will take on the likes of Maruti Suzuki Swift, Hyundai i20, Ford Figo, Volkswagen Polo and Toyota Liva. The premium hatchback category is among the fastest growing segments in the domestic market. As many as 439,000 units were sold last year.
After the Ford Figo, priced upwards of Rs 3.69 lakh, Brio will be the cheapest offering in the premium hatchback market. Sales will commence next month and deliveries will start from October 10.
| JET SET | ||
| Model | Petrol | Diesel |
| Honda Brio* | 3.95-5.10 | — |
| Maruti Suzuki Swift | 4.22-5.53 | 5.17-6.38 |
| Toyota Liva | 3.99-5.99 | 5.54-5.84 |
| Hyundai i20 | 4.59-7.59 | 5.70-7.35 |
| Volkswagen Polo | 4.57-6.77 | 5.59-7.06 |
| Ford Figo | 3.69-4.67 | 4.59-5.57 |
| Price in Rs lakh (Ex-showroom, Delhi) *available only in petrol Source: Industry | ||
Takashi Nagai, president and chief executive officer, Honda Siel Cars India (HSCI). said: “For the past 21 months we have made concerted efforts to increase localisation of the car. The localisation for the Brio stands at 80 per cent and will go up to 90 per cent in the next few months. This has been the key to the pricing strategy of the Brio.”
The company declined to share specifics of the sales volume HSCI is targeting for its new small car. “With Brio, we will be entering a new segment for the first time in India. It has been designed and developed specially to meet the needs of customers here. The compact car segment will soon become the second pillar of business for Honda in India,” said Nagai.
Nagai said the company expects a large number of customers to come from smaller cities for the Brio, whereas demand in bigger cities is likely to be for existing models such as the City, Civic and Accord.
To this end, the company is working on strengthening its distribution network. Brio will now be available at 135 sales outlets in 83 cities. Another eight outlets will be added by the end of the fiscal.
Industry observers, however, said Honda’s lack of a diesel fuel option may impact sales in the future. Post the sharp increase in price of petrol over the last few months, nearly 80 per cent of sales come in for the diesel variant for models which offer the option.
Jnaneswar Sen, senior vice-president, HSCI said: “While there has been a dieselisation of the industry, we are confident our car with intelligence performance features will reduce the total cost of ownership.
Based on this we hope to get a god response. Brio which is powered by a 1.2-litre petrol engine offers mileage of 18.4 kmpl.
HSCI said it is also targeting revenues of Rs 112 crore this fiscal from export of auto components from India. The company has already started shipping components of the Brio to Thailand from its facility at Rajasthan. It also exports components for the City and Jazz to Malaysia and Indonesia.
