Japanese automobile manufacturer Honda is planning to launch a sedan version of its Brio hatchback in the Indian market in 2013. The sedan is expected to be positioned below the Honda City sedan in Honda’s portfolio in India.
In comparison to Honda City sedan, the Honda Brio sedan is planned to be priced and positioned lower to target first time car buyers and attain higher sales. The strategy to launch a sedan version of an existing hatchback is similar to that of Tata Motors’ Indica-Indigo combination, Maruti Suzuki’s Swift-Swift DZire combination and Toyota’s Etios Liva-Etios sedan duo among many others.
Meanwhile, Honda India is struggling to maintain sales in the Indian auto market owing to the mass shift from petrol to diesel powered vehicles. The company’s sales have been significantly affected as it has a thorough petrol car portfolio in India. It is expected that the company may develop and launch a diesel version of the Brio hatchback by the end of 2012.
