Nearly three months after unveiling the Elevate in the country, Honda Cars India Limited (HCIL) has launched the all-new mid-sized sports utility vehicle (SUV). This SUV is priced in the range of Rs 10.99-15.99 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi) and will compete with the likes of the Hyundai Creta, Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara, Kia Seltos, Toyota's Urban Cruiser Hyryder, etc.
While the company commenced Elevate’s bookings in July, it kicked off the model’s production in late July.
Takuya Tsumura, President & Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Honda Cars India Ltd, said, "The tremendous anticipation surrounding this product underscores the trust our customers have in our offerings. Honda Elevate holds the potential to become a key pillar of Honda’s business in India, offering remarkable value to our evolving customers."
While the company did not reveal the total number of units booked to date, it indicated that the waiting period for this model is five to six months.
Earlier, the Japanese carmaker claimed that India has achieved over 90 percent localisation in producing this global SUV. It has now started deliveries of this model.
"Our focus is now on the SUV segment. Starting with Elevate, we are going to introduce five SUVs by 2030. It is very important for the company to be in the SUV segment, which has become the leading vertical in terms of volumes," Tsumura told PTI in an interaction.
Elevate will be equipped with a 1.5-litre petrol engine, paired with a six-speed manual and continuously variable transmission (CVT) option, and is based on the fifth-generation City sedan platform. The company claims that the manual and CVT trims come with fuel efficiency of 15.31 kmpl and 16.92 kmpl, respectively. The SUV also comes with an entire range of active and passive safety technologies, such as the Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) of Honda Sensing.
While the four manual variants of Elevate come at an introductory price ranging between Rs 10.99 lakh and Rs 14.9 lakh, the automatic trims are priced between Rs 13.2 lakh and Rs 15.99 lakh.
With Elevate, HCIL aims to draw a new set of customers into its fold. "We have been missing in the SUV segment. So the introduction of Elevate is a big day for us," Tsumura further added. He also indicated that the company plans to export Elevate, but only after fulfilling the pending orders in the domestic market. He confirmed that a battery-electric variant of this model is on the cards in the medium term.
Market size and potential
Defined by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) as SUVs between 4,000 mm and 4,400 mm in length and priced less than Rs 20 lakh, midsize SUVs accounted for 13.5 percent of the market in the financial year 2022-23 (FY23). During FY23, this market grew 30 percent to 523,967 units, compared to 404,091 units in FY22.
In this segment, sales were led by the Hyundai Creta (150,372 units), followed by the Kia Seltos (100,132 units). The contribution of the SUV segment to overall passenger vehicle (PV) sales in the country has risen to over 48 per cent this year from 43 per cent in FY22.
Elaborating further, Honda Cars India VP (Marketing and Sales), Kunal Behl, said the mid-sized SUV segment (over four metres in length) has witnessed a jump of 34 percent in sales this year compared to last year, with the average monthly sales now hovering around 70,500 units. He noted that the company has received a great response for Elevate once bookings began in July, and the focus now is on timely deliveries in the festival season.
"We are not targeting any specific number (in terms of sales), but till now, after commencing bookings in July without revealing the price, we have five to six months of waiting on certain trims," Behl told PTI, adding, "So, the current endeavour is to align production to meet the demand."
Output ramp-up
The MD & CEO of HCIL also noted that the company has ramped up production capacity to 660 units a day at its Tapukara facility in Rajasthan. Tsumura added that the company is also planning to increase production capacity in the future.
Asked about the shortage of chips, Tsumura said that the situation is much better now and that the company has acquired the required electronic components for Elevate in advance in order to meet the production target.
(With inputs from PTI)
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