Thursday, August 19, 2021
By Kamal Swami
Honda Motors Working On a New SUV for India, Launch In 2023
Going through the increasing demand for SUV’s in the Indian car market, the Japanese carmaker Honda Motors is developing a new SUV specifically for India. The carmaker has a strong presence in all the segments including hatchback, sedan, and crossover. It lacks presence in the SUV segment. Although at present it has a compact SUV WR-V to name, it is not performing according to the expectations. Now the company has confirmed to launch an SUV in the Indian market, focussing specifically on the Indian buyers. In the words of Mr Rajesh Goel, Vice-President and Director, Sales and Marketing, Honda Cars India Limited, “We are developing a brand new, India-focused SUV”.
The sedan segment had been the backbone for Honda in India. With an increasing demand in the SUV segment, there is a dynamic decline in the market share of the company. According to Mr Goel, “We see the shift to SUVs has accelerated in the first seven months of this year. Till July 2021, the share of SUVs went up by as much as 34 percent. So the pace is accelerating and the biggest hit has been taken by sedans, I can’t hide that. The sedan percentage share in each segment is decreasing”.
As for as the details of upcoming SUV are concerned, nothing has been so far revealed by the sources of the company. It is believed that it will be based on the platform used for developing the premium sedan City. It will have a length of 4.3m and will go against the likes of Hyundai Creta, Skoda Kushaq, VW Taigun, and Kia Seltos. It is rumoured that the SUV will carry its cues from the Honda N7X concept SUV showcased recently in Indonesia. The production concept of N7X concept is based on the City sedan. It will be available in 1.5-litre petrol and 1.5-diesel engine configurations and mated with the CVT transmission system.
