Honda new small car to be primarily for India

Honda has plans to develop a small car primarily targeted at the Indian market. It would be an entirely new model and the company is currently researching about what they would require to make it a success in India.

They expect to complete their study by the end of the year and it would be developed keeping India in mind though it will be sold in other markets as well.

Honda Siel Cars India president & CEO Masahiro Takedagawa said in a statement: “Every car is developed with one nation as the lead country. India will be the lead country for this small car. It takes at least three years to develop a new model.”

This means that we won’t be able to see this new model on roads before 2009. Honda’s prime competitor from their home market Toyota is also planning to develop and launch a smaller car in India.

The market had expected the company to launch Honda Life or Honda Jazz as their product in the small car segment in India but those rumors are now squashed. General Motors is due to launch Chevrolet Spark sometime next year and this would further increase the competition in the small car segment.