Tuesday, September 11, 2012
By Shilpa Chopra
Honda Siel Cars India Ltd is now Honda Cars India
Honda India has a new name. It is now called Honda Cars India Ltd after it has ceased its ties with the Shriram Group’s Usha International. Earlier it was called as Honda Siel Cars India Ltd. Now all the Honda cars in India viz. Honda Brio, Honda Jazz, Honda City, Honda Accord, Honda Civic and Honda CR-V will be sold under the banner of HCIL (Honda Cars India Ltd). Also, all the upcoming launches in India will be handled solely by Honda India only and Shriram Group will now have no interference in it. Notably, the Shriram Group has sold all its stake to Honda and with it the joint venture came to an end and Honda Siel Cars India is now a fully owned company of Honda India. All the legal formalities have been done and the car maker is now all set on its independent journey in the country.
Meanwhile, certain report published at several places had almost confirmed that Honda is in a mood to withdraw its operations and it will not be launching the new Honda Civic in India and it will soon be pulling out the Honda Accord sedan from India. The industry had also believed such reports as the car maker is reeling under sever crisis as its sales is dwindling day by day. The sole reason for it is the absence of Honda Diesel cars otherwise the Honda cars are well accepted and its City sedan is the most popular sedan in the country and still it is considered to be the first choice. Though people refrain from buying it as the per kilometer running cost of the car proves to be expensive as it is a petrol car.
Now that Honda is on its own, it is expected that the company will be launching the Honda Jazz Diesel and Honda City diesel cars in India. HCIL President Mr Hironori Kanayama has also said in a report that Honda is optimistic about the country and there will be new products from Honda soon. If this statement comes out to be true and Honda launches diesel cars, then no one can stop the car maker from climbing to the top three car makers in India slot.
