Automobile Desk: To strengthen its hold in the Indian automobile market, Honda Cars India has made a new and aggressive strategy. Instead of relying only on its global models, the company is now focusing on designing vehicles according to specific Indian conditions, roads and customer needs. The direct objective of this scheme is to fix the right price along with better performance of the vehicles. The company plans to introduce 10 new models in the Indian market by the year 2030, in which the biggest emphasis will be on the sub-4 meter (sub-compact) and mid-size SUV segments.
To strengthen its position in the sub-4 meter SUV segment, Honda is preparing to launch a brand new small SUV in the market by 2028. After the discontinuation of Honda Brio, Jazz and WR-V in India, the company currently has only Amaze as its only option in the sub-4 meter category. With the arrival of the new sub-compact SUV, competition will increase significantly in the market between vehicles like Tata Nexon, Maruti Suzuki Brezza, Hyundai Venue, Kia Sonet, Nissan Magnite and Renault Kiger.
Talking about the technical base, this new SUV can be developed on Honda's global small car platform or a new modular architecture. This architecture will be flexible enough to support conventional petrol (ICE) engines as well as hybrid and fully electric powertrains. However, the company has not yet made any official disclosure about which powertrain will be initially chosen for the Indian market.
Apart from this, Honda is also working rapidly towards updating its existing portfolio. In the coming few weeks, the company may launch the facelift model of its popular mid-size SUV Elevate. It is expected to get some cosmetic changes and addition of new features, while the engine setup is likely to remain the same. After the Elevate facelift, the company will enter the electric vehicle (EV) segment and introduce an all-electric SUV named 'Honda 0 Alpha', which will compete directly with vehicles like Maruti eVitara, Tata Sierra EV and Hyundai Creta EV.
To maintain the premium identity among Indian customers, Honda is considering bringing back some of its popular and iconic global brands to India. These include names like Civic, Accord and CR-V, which can be imported in limited numbers as CBU (completely built unit) with hybrid options. Also, to further strengthen the brand's premium image, Honda is exploring the possibility of bringing the Prelude hybrid sports car to India as a 'halo product'.
