Honda Cars India domestic sales for Feb 2020 stood at 7,269 units
Honda Cars India reports noticeable sales decline for February 2020. Sales have almost halved at 7,269 units, down 46 percent from 13,527 units sold in the domestic market in February 2019. As the market continues to be in the grip of sales slowdown, HCIL has implemented process changes that have ensured smooth BSIV to BSVI transition. With BS6 emission norms mandated from April 1, 2020, it’s swell to see Honda cars has already made a successful transition.
Vehicles dispatched in February 2020 are BS6 units. This includes petrol variants of Amaze, City, Civic and CR-V in the domestic market. 2020 Honda Amaze BS6 diesel cars dispatches are scheduled to begin from March 2020. Honda’s preparedness and processes will allow the manufacturer to sequentially introduce BS-6 variants across its line-up in the months to come.
Honda exports, not its strongest suit is reported at 64 units last month. This is in fact an improvement from the 20 units exported a year earlier. Rajesh Goel, Senior Vice President and Director – Marketing and Sales, Honda Cars India Ltd. said, “Our despatches were limited and in line with our plan of total supply availability for the month. We are determined to enhance the supplies with subsequent introduction of BS-6 versions of other models and bring down the waiting period for our customers.”
Honda cars has been engaged in supplying only BS-6 cars since January 2020. This is part of its process introductions to ensure that dealers are not in a fix dealing with outdated stock at the time of deadline. As such, dealers are aggressively liquidating their BS-4 stock. In all, Honda Cars is dealing with negligible stock of BS-4 cars as of February end.
Honda’s dealership network cleared the residual BS-4 stock last month. HCIL has been producing only BS-6 models at its Indian plants since January 2020 as part of the mandated transition.
In terms of sales, Honda cars India has been reporting continual sales decline for a number of months now. This comes at a time when the market for the most part has been on slowdown mode. Coupled with timely BS6 transition, manufacturers have had to adjust product portfolios to leave out cars that aren’t updated yet resulting in sales contraction.
Honda is now getting ready to launch the new generation City sedan in India. Already unveiled in Thailand, the new gen 2020 City will be launched in India next month. It will replace the current City, and rival the likes of Hyundai Verna and Maruti Ciaz in the mid-size sedan segment.
