Honda Cars India, the wholly owned subsidiary of the Japanese automaker Honda has become the fourth largest carmaker in India in terms of domestic sales. The carmaker surpassed the domestic sales of Indian carmaker Tata Motors and Japanese automaker Toyota Kirloskar Motor making it to the fourth spot.
The carmaker has witnessed a three-fold increase in its sales for the month of January 2014 in comparison to the January 2013 sales selling 15,714 units in comparison to Tata Motors and Toyota which sold 13,800 units and 10,910 units respectively in the same month.
The sales increment is being attributed to the launch of the Honda Amaze sedan car model with a diesel engine option which has enabled the carmaker to achieve the 1,00,000 unit sales mark in a fiscal for the first time in the Indian car market. The new Honda City with a diesel engine option launched in the month of January 2014 has further enhanced the Japanese automaker’s Indian car portfolio.
Honda’s new Tapukara facility in Rajasthan will also start operations in February 2014 and will increase the carmaker’s annual capacity to 1,20,000 units. The production of the new i-DTEC diesel engine at the new facility has already commenced.
According to Mr. Jnaneswar Sen Senior Vice President (Marketing and Sales) Honda Cars India, the carmaker is also in the process of expanding its dealership network from the current 161 outlets to 230 outlets by the year 2015. The increase in dealerships is in line with the carmaker’s target of achieving 3,00,000 units sales by the year 2017.
