Coming to the possible roadmap for
Honda’s diesel engined cars to be launched in India, a news report
carried by the EconomicTimes suggests that the Brio might indeed be the
first Honda car model in India to be outfitted with a diesel engine. The
City sedan is another car that could see a diesel engine under the
hood. Once a best seller in the C-segment sedan space, the lack of a
diesel engined variant has seen the model slowly losing market share to
rivals like Hyundai, Volkswagen and Nissan. So, a diesel engine is very
much needed to resurrect the Honda City’s stature as a top selling car
in its class.
The story goes on to assert that the Brio
diesel will debut by the middle of 2013, which is just a year away. A
1.2 Liter, three cylinder version and a 1.5 Liter, four potter turbo
diesel could be in the works. The Jazz could be the other car that could
get a diesel engine, with a likely launch at the 2014 Indian Auto Expo.
The brand already has diesel engines ready to be deployed in its other
cars such as the Civic, the Accord and the CR-V crossover. In fact,
Honda sells diesel versions of all the three aforementioned cars in the
European market, which is extremely diesel friendly.
Likewise, Honda indeed needs diesel cars in its portfolio if the brand
wants to remain relevant in India, as the cost difference between petrol
and diesel has further widened to an unprecedented high with the latest
hike in petrol prices, days ago. Honda currently has no diesel engined
cars in its India portfolio and the new range of turbo diesel engines
are seen as a saviour for the brand, which has clearly lost its
way,amidst plummeting sales over the past couple of years. Honda for its
part continues to officially deny that it is planning to launch diesel
engined cars in 2013.
Source;
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Honda Motors has invested Rs. 1,200 crore through wholly-subscribed rights issue for increasing its stakes in the Indian subsidiary Honda Siel Cars India. It has been speculated that the Indian partner of the company Shriram Industrial Enterprise (Siel) is likely to exit the Honda Siel Cars. At present the Siel’s share in HSCI is 5% but if the investment firm Usha International that backs Siel does not do any thing about the rights issue the stakes of Siel would go down to 3.16%. Honda Siel Cars India has been incurring loss for some time now, mainly because of the absence of diesel cars from its line up and also because of the natural calamities happened in Japan and Thailand.
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