The Hindu : Business : Third generation Honda City launched

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Friday, Sep 26, 2008
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Business

Third generation Honda City launched

Special Correspondent

Three versions of the new model
are priced at Rs. 7.70-8.90 lakh
FTA with ASEAN will help the company
enjoy volume advantage

NEW DELHI: Honda Siel Cars India (HSCI) on Thursday launched the third generation model of its popular sedan ‘City,’ to boost its sales in the forthcoming festive season. Priced between Rs. 7.70 lakh and Rs. 8.90 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi), the new ‘Honda City’ comes with 1.5 litre i-VTEC engine and in three different versions with automatic and manual transmissions.

Unveiling the new ‘Honda City’ at a press conference here, HSCI President and CEO M. Takedagawa said ‘Honda City’ was the one of the most successful car brands in the country.

“With this launch, India will become the largest market for Honda City,” he added. Prior to its launch in India, the new ‘City’ was introduced in Thailand.

Informing that ‘Honda City’ is now being produced in seven countries and sold in 39 countries across the world, Mr. Takedagawa said the company planning to add a small car in its portfolio that would be smaller than its existing hatchback ‘Jazz’. The new small car was being developed with global requirements in mind as rising crude prices was driving people more towards smaller cars with better mileage, he added.

Referring to the implementation of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between India and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Honda Motor Company’s President and CEO Takeo Fukui said it would help them make Honda’s India operations a key part of global business. “India is a big market and we have made big investments in expanding our business. We will continue to invest in this market in future to the delight of our customers,” he added.

Mr. Takedagawa said the company could enjoy volume advantage by sharing components between India and ASEAN countries. Models like ‘City’ have high local components in India but low in Thailand. It could benefit from Indian components in Thailand once the FTA is in place. Similarly ‘Honda Civic’ had low local components in India, but high in Thailand. With this FTA, this can even out, he added.

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