Honda Siel Cars India has confirmed that the company shall enter the entry level small car segment in the country. The new model will be positioned below Jazz which is the upcoming model from the company. The new model will be produced at the company’s Rajasthan manufacturing unit.
The new model is expected to be similar to Hyundai i10 or Maruti A-Star. The company intends to minimize imported content and plans to build the new small car model with maximum local content. The small car from Honda is expected to hit the markets by 2011.
Honda has recently pulled off from the Formula One Championship and has also announced cancellation of its NSX project due to ongoing credit crunch. However, the company ended the year with a positive note with its sales rising up by 9.4 percent at 3,667 units in December 2008 as against 3,363 units in the same month in 2007.
The sales comprised 2,972 units of flagship sedan City, 386 units of premium sedan Civic, 171 units of luxury sedan Accord and 132 units of SUV CR-V, the company said in a statement. During January-December period last year, HSCI sold 53,840 units compared with 60,387 units in the same period previous year, down by 10.84%.
