Honda eyes double digit car sales growth, banks on new Jazz

Buoyed by good sales in India last fiscal, Japanese carmaker Honda is confident of repeating the double-digit growth this year, pinning hopes on its soon-to-be -launched premium hatchback Jazz to add to the momentum.

Present in India through its wholly-owned arm -- Honda Cars India, the company had posted a sales growth of 40.73 percent in domestic market in 2014-15 at 1,89,062 units as against 1,34,339 units in the previous fiscal.

"We are eyeing double digit sales growth this fiscal. We are very confident of Jazz doing well here," Honda Cars India Ltd (HCIL) Senior Vice-President (Marketing and Sales) Jnaneswar Sen told PTI, adding that apart from Jazz, the company currently has no plans to launch any other model in the domestic market in the ongoing financial year.

The next product launch from the company's stable is slated during the first half of next year.

"We plan to launch Accord in the first half of next year. So Jazz is the only launch slated for this fiscal," Sen said.

The premium hatchback segment is currently dominated by Maruti Suzuki's Swift and Hyundai Motor India' Elite i20.

The new Jazz is being manufactured at HCIL's Tapukara plant where it is investing Rs 380 crore to expand production capacity to 1.80 lakh units annually from 1.20 lakh units. 

The car would be offered with petrol and diesel engines. The petrol variants, including the automatic version, would sport 1.2 litre mill. The 1.5 litre diesel engine, which powers the Amaze, Mobilio and City, would also be used on the new Jazz. 

India is the first country where the Jazz would be offered with a diesel powertrain.

Honda Cars India officials confirmed that there is no plan to introduce a diesel Jazz anywhere in the world apart from India. Sen added that the company has tried to enhance localisation content in the new Jazz as compared to the previous edition. 

"The earlier model had localisation content of about 72 per cent. Over the period of time we have been able to increase it to 90 per cent of our current product range. So the new Jazz would also have this kind of localisation," Sen said. 

In India, the Jazz was first launched in 2009 with a price tag of over Rs 7 lakh which was later slashed by Rs 1.6 lakh. In 2013, the company stopped production of the car in the country.

Honda has sold over 55 lakh units of previous generation models of Jazz across the world, including the US and Japan. 

The vehicle is produced at 11 locations globally and sold in 75 countries. HCIL, which aims to touch 3 lakh unit sales milestone per annum by the end of 2016-17, currently sells compact car Brio, compact sedan Amaze, mid-sized sedan City, multipurpose vehicle Mobilio and premium sports utility vehicle CR-V.