Honda’s compact car coming to India in 2009

Japanese automaker’s Indian unit Honda Siel Cars India has plans to launch their first compact car in the Indian market by 2009.

Honda is aiming to sell 40,000 units of this planned car each year. This was revealed by sources from the auto component makers who have been approached for bids for this project.

This would be the Japanese company’s first attempt to get into the segment which is the most crowded in the market. This segment of the auto market also generates close to around 70% of all sales.

Honda is currently working on establishing a manufacturing unit for 50,000-units a year in Rajasthan. This car is likely to be positioned against the existing Maruti Suzuki Swift, Chevrolet U-VA and Hyundai Getz in the premium hatchback segment.

Maruti is selling around 60,000 units of their Swift in the market each year and this is a lucrative number for Honda to target for.

Honda is also rumored to be working on developing a fuel efficient 1.2 liter engine for this car to get the government sops for compact cars. NK Goila, vice-president at Honda said in a statement: “Every manufacturer works on full and minor model changes, we can’t comment on specifics” they might consider developing a variant of their existing Jazz in Europe and Fit in Asia.

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