Future Of Honda in India
Past, Present and The seemingly Uncertain FUTURE OF HONDA
So, recently I posted an article on Esteem and why it holds a significant place in India’s Motoring history. and at the beginning of that article, I made my intentions heard about starting a series where I go around and discover and drive Automobiles that have played their part in India’s automobile landscape.
During the research for that series, I came across the Honda City and Civic two of the iconic names in India’s fairly short Automobile history. and how these cars are at the heart of enthusiast cars that are admired for their dynamic capabilities and Engine performance.
During this research, I had an epiphany that Honda is no longer a go-to brand for enthusiasts nor does its product ignite excitement among general consumers and enthusiasts alike.
Now, Honda is on the verge of falling into obscurity. The brand was once seen as a pioneer in the entry to mid-size sedan segment, but now only sells one Sedan and some concoction that’s called Amaze. Both are very good and capable cars in their segment but coming back to the same point they are not exciting enough, nor they are setting the sales chart ablaze.
Why is Honda in this situation when globally it’s doing very well?
I am no market expert, but I tried my best to figure out where has everything gone wrong for Honda and does it have any future or if is it time for Honda to go packing and head for the exit just like GM and Ford.
To understand that I figured if I go back 25 years or so back in time and puzzle out why and what made Honda a success back then and contrast the two periods of success and failure of Honda-India in its very short presence in the Indian market.
Indian market is relatively new compared to already established across the globe, so it shouldn’t be a surprise to know that Honda hasn’t been around in India for too long. But its brief presence has faced the highest of the highest and lowest of the lows, I’d say it hasn’t experienced a high for a while. BUT I DIGRESS.
Honda entered the Indian market as an automobile manufacturer around 1995 and established its manufacturing plant in 1997 Greater Noida. started rolling out their product a year later in the form of Honda City
Honda-India carved a niche for itself by becoming a sought-after offering for buyers who wanted to move away from more mainstream products from Maruti.
Honda’s city was a premium offering over cars like Opel Corsa, Maruti esteem etc. it also came with a 1.5-litre vtec producing 100 hp and it was touted as the most refined and smooth engine on the market for the price. Now, Honda also offered an affordable variant that came with a slightly downsized 1.3 litre.
Honda City 1st Gen was on sale for 6 years between 1998-2003 and during this period Honda managed to move close to 60,000 units in sales. these numbers were relatively very respectful back then considering the competition it had with Mitsubishi and later on with Maruti joining the party with the Baleno.
While 1st Gen Honda city was in its midlife, Honda brought its big gun – The Honda Accord – selling close to 200 per month during its time. with the end of 1st gen city and the launch of the next-gen city that is infamously known as the dolphin’s shape, Accord also got a refresh with the 7th generation Accord, and here’s the thing Honda along with a 2.3 litre 4 cyl powerplant also offered a “V6” motor producing 200 hp, cue the shocked emoji.
Right …? back in the Mid 2000s a Honda sold with a V6! Although common knowledge is still difficult to fathom considering what Honda offers now as its top-of-the-line product. Along with Accord and City, Honda also brought its SUV Honda CR-V along the CBU route.
in 2006 entered the Civic, the greatest design produced by Honda that wasn’t touched by the Italians at Pininfarina, not my words the masses spoke.
Arguably the most adored car sold by Honda for the Indian market, sure City now almost enjoys a cult-like following but that is mostly among youths and automobile enthusiasts. but civic is adored by all age groups.
It came equipped with two engine options a 1.8 Vtec 4 cylinder with a manual or auto, and a 1.3 attached to a battery, yes, a hybrid! in 2006!
Seems I am impressed at pretty much everything Honda did during these years, but that’s the irony I am trying to point out, Honda was a pioneer for the Indian market with fresh ideas for the Indian market.
With clever designs, groundbreaking performance, comfort and eye-catching interior designs Honda was leading ‘B’, ‘C’ & ‘D’ segment sedans and quietly making hay in the mid-size SUV and hatchback territory.
The twenty-teens began well for the Honda, but this past decade has not been kind to the auto manufacturer, The civic was gone, the accord was due for an upgrade, the city was in its 3rd generation, and The CRV was quietly making its play, jazz was struggling to find the pace among its peers, The amaze turned out to be a surprise victory.
While other brands were bracing themselves for the compact SUV assault, Honda was focusing on upgrading its breadwinner into its 4th generation. By 2014 Ford took the market by storm with its compact SUV -EcoSport, Honda meanwhile launched City’s new model and I might say it held its own pretty well in the market that was soon to be dominated by the compact SUVs and jacked-up hatchbacks.
Honda City became more and more sophisticated and moved away from its boyish charm and look by every generation and became a car that was most preferred by Executives and chauffeur-driven consumers.
By the mid-twenty-teens, the SUV frenzy reached its peak-from which it still hasn’t dropped off. This forced Honda to take notice and to get a bite of the already crowded market, In 2016 Honda launched The BRV – which felt too little too late, with its inadequate feature list failing to compete with the Segment King-Hyundai Creta instantly made buyers look away from the Honda and deeming BRV a flop.
Honda didn’t stop there it went as far as launching a Jazz with jacked-up suspension and widened wheel arches and calling it the WRV, which surprisingly did well for its irrelevant segment and accounted for Honda’s 28% of the sales.
While Honda was semi-struggling to compete with more relevant competitors in the SUV market, it stayed adamant by taking notes from its past success and kept on launching sedans that were slowly getting phased out of the market by jacked-up hatchbacks and crossovers.
2014-2019
During 2014-2019 Honda launched four new sedan models in all possible segments imaginable, The Honda City, The Honda Accord, The Honda Civic and The Honda Amaze. and only Three SUVs during this period and only two of them were under the compact SUV-money magnet segment.
Although Honda had one of the biggest diverse portfolios, it still couldn’t reach the same height as its competitors like Hyundai and Suzuki managed and recently got left in the trail of newer entries such as KIA and MG.
At the time of writing this Honda now only has five products for sale and one of them is the previous generation Honda city selling alongside the newer 5th gen Honda city and two of them are touted to get phased out by march of next year.
Leaving Honda with only two cars to show for Honda city and The Honda Amaze both of which are sedans in the zombie world of SUVs.
SO, WHAT’S NEXT FOR HONDA?
It does look like there’s finally a light at the end of the tunnel for the automaker, freshly appointed president and CEO of India Operations Takuya Tsumura has made it clear in his statement that Honda is not looking for an exit and if any is appointment suggests that it is ready to expands its business in the Indian market.
“We are not going anywhere. There is no question of an exit. I am coming here to expand the business,” Tsumura said
All while admitting that Honda has failed to materialize the ever-growing SUV segment and also admitting that they don’t have any proper product to compete within the segment. Which he assures is about to change by the middle of next year.
Honda has already sown the seeds for their future A first made-for-India product by the company is already in the works and will reap its fruit by the start or middle of next year. it is speculated to share the marketplace alongside already segment leaders like Hyundai Creta and Kia Seltos.
The lack of SUVs in its portfolio has diminished HONDA’S market share to under 3% from already concerning 7% in 2015. in 2020 diminishing sales and the pandemic forced the automaker to shut down its Greater Noida plant, where it all began for the company in INDIA, plant where millions of dreams began and got assembled.
Hopefully, for India SUVs will aid in turning the automaker’s fortunes and we as consumers would get to experience and own some of the finest automobile engineering of Japan for years to come.
For me personally, Honda holds a special place in, I’ve grown up watching Jenson Button taking his Honda F1 car to pole positions and fighting the legend Michael Schumacher for victories and podiums. And listening and reading stories about Ayrton Senna Greatest driver to ever exist taking his Mclaren-Honda to mind-boggling pole laps and sensational race wins. And very recently Red bull and max Verstappen claimed championships powered by a Honda power unit
Watching videos of senna taking the NSX to the ragged edge on the twists and turns of the SUZUKA circuit. Watching front-wheel drive civic hatchbacks go toe to toe with relatively more powerful counterparts in touring car championships.
I very much hope that Honda finds its feet in this very saturated market and still finds a reason to sell some great sedans in the Indian Market, definitely a dying breed held on life support by brands like Honda and others.
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