Honda Cars India is working hard to localize its car and adapt them better for Indian and Indonesian markets. Indian being a very competitive market which is highly price sensitive, it has been a challenge for Honda to come up with products which can be priced right. Honda Jazz has always been one of the most spacious and comfortable Hatchbacks but it did not get any considerable sales in India until in August 2011 when Honda SIEL India launched it in a more reasonably priced variants after increasing its localization. Since then Honda Jazz has not looked back, same is with Honda Brio, a great package priced competitively generating good sales for the Japanese car maker in India.
As per recent reports, Honda India is working on an 7 seater MPV for India (codenamed 2NH) which will be much like the existing MPV called Freed already available in some Asian markets like Japan, Malaysia and Hong Kong in different variants. The Freed MPV for India will be Indianized, localized and will probably loose some features before coming to India. The Freed is based on next-generation Honda Jazz platform with 3 row of seats for 7 adult passengers.
image – Honda Freed 7 Seater MPV
The MPV segment in India is showing a consistent growth with the latest entrant being Maruti Ertiga MPV which has clocked record 32,000 bookings in one month of its launch. Other popular MPVs in India are Mahindra Xylo, Toyota Innova to name a few. The entry of Honda into this segment will not only offer more choice to buyers, but also will increase competition which will keep a check on prices.
The Honda 2NH MPV for India will features refined Honda engines – both petrol and new Earth Dreams series Honda Diesel engine is expected to debut in India. Since there is more demand for Diesel MPVs in India, the diesel variants will be an important part of Honda India’s strategy in India in this segment. Just like Honda Jazz, the MPV is also expected to have very efficient packaging with high quality of interiors. The Existing models of Honda Freed are also packaged with small engine compartment and large cabin space for the comfort of passengers. It will be interesting to see how it comes out and how Honda Prices it as Maruti Ertiga is one of the lowest priced MPVs in India followed by Xylo and then Innova.
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via – Autocar India
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