Honda is one of few companies to log a sales increase, it’s a small gain compared to 26 percent sales growth the company reported in December 2017. HCIL reports 315 units were exported in December 2018 down 57 percent from 730 units exported in Dec ’17.
Rajesh Goel, Senior Vice President and Director, Sales and Marketing, Honda Cars India Ltd said, “The market continued to remain challenging in December. However, with lucrative year-end offers on many of our models and strong performance of new models Amaze and CR-V, HCIL recorded 4% sales growth in December 2018. We are thankful to our customers to have continued faith in the Honda brand.”
Year-end offers were not extended to the recently launched CRV and Accord hybrid. Offers were designed around extended warranty, exchange bonus, and free insurance, alongwith dealer specific corporate offers. Honda reports cumulative growth of 3.7 percent with 134,797 units sold during April- December 2018, up from 129,964 units sold through April – December 2017.
Last month Honda Cars India announced a price hike wef January 2019. The auto manufacturer sells a range of vehicles from Brio at an entry price point of Rs 4.73 lakh to Accord Hybrid that retails at Rs 43.21 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi). With input costs increasing, Honda announced a vehicle price increase of 4 percent to offset these costs. Despite Honda Brio entry price point banking on affordability, the low price tag hasn’t been doing much for sales in recent days.
In December, Honda Cars India signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Automotive Skill Development Council (ASDC) accredition of Honda Vocational Training Institute (HVTI) in Tapukara, Rajasthan.
For future, Honda will be making their highest ever investment in India. Over the next five years, Honda will invest Rs 9,200 crores. This money will be used to setup new plant, increase production, launch new cars, increase dealerships and improve overall customer experience. New car launches planned by Honda include the likes new gen City, HR-V (Creta / Harrier rival) and electric vehicles. Honda aims to stabilize its position in the the top 3 car makers list in India.
