Change in fortunes of Honda since the launch of Amaze Diesel

Since the Indian consumers had switched loyalties from petrol cars to diesel ones, Japan based car maker Honda lost a significant bit of market share. The lack of diesel technology had hampered the growth prospective of Honda in the Indian auto market. Car consumers in India eagerly waited for Honda to introduce diesel engine powered cars in its product portfolio. During 2013, the wait finally ended with the launch of a new entry level sedan, Amaze in diesel version. Although the company had been late in entering the segment, Amaze generated a lot of buzz owing to its refined and powerful engine.

Honda Amaze is powered by the Earth Dreams Technology, which is renowned for its superlative performance and best-in-class fuel efficiency. The diesel version of Amaze is equipped with a 1.5-litre i-DTEC engine that has a displacement of 1498 cc. Designed to be considerably light, this engine contributes in the reduction of kerb weight of the car. Also to mention, the friction reduction technique helps in decreasing the loss of energy, which gives way for the engine in giving a better mileage. The 4-cylinder DOHC diesel engine attains a peak power of 98 bhp besides generating a maximum torque of 200 Nm. This engine is mated to a 5-speed manual transmission system that further transfers power to its rear wheels.

With the inclusion of diesel engine in Amaze, Honda has been enjoying a new found in India. The car maker has rightly lived up to the expectations of consumers with its entry level sedan, Amaze. Since its introduction in the Indian car market, it enjoyed the fortunes of Honda as the sales figures of Amaze are constantly increasing. These statements are evident from the fact that Honda posted a 88 per cent jump in its domestic sales for September 2013 as it sold 6679 units of Amaze in the same period.

Recently Honda Cars India Limited, Senior Vice-President (Sales and Marketing) Jnaneswar Sen said, “In the next 3-4 years, we are planning to launch five new models in the (diesel) segment. These would comprise of either completely new cars or fully refreshed models of our existing range.” He further added that the company would be launching Jazz in 2014. Eyeing the kind of demand for diesel cars in India, Honda is planning to increase its production capacity as Sen once told “We have announced an investment of Rs. 2,500 crore in India, towards increasing our plant capacity from the current 1.2 lakh units to 2.4 lakh units, which we plan to achieve by the end of this financial year.”

So with the kind of demand that diesel version of Amaze has generated, industry experts are betting that once Honda rolls out diesel variant of City, it would take the market by storm, thereby increasing its overall market share. For future, it must be said that Honda would be among the main players that would control the diesel segment of cars once it starts 'rapid dieselling' of the entire product range.