Honda Brio launched, starts at just Rs.3.95 lacs

The Japanese car giant Honda confirmed that it is making best efforts to tap the low price car segment in India, as it launched the new Brio today in India. Honda Brio has been priced quite competitively to gain maximum share in the Indian car market. The new 2011 Honda Brio will be available in the price range of Rs. 3.95 lacs to Rs. 5.1 lacs.

The company which operates in the country through a joint venture with the Siel group, earning the name Honda Siel Cars India, said that besides new Honda Brio launch, it aims to generate revenues of Rs. 112 crore this fiscal. The revenue is to be gained from the export of auto components from India.

With the Honda Brio launch, we will be entering a new segment for the first time in India. It has been designed and developed specially to meet the needs of customers here," Honda Siel Cars India President and CEO Takashi Nagai said, while addressing the media on the occasion of the Honda Brio launch.

He also added that the company adhered to its words of fixing the Honda Brio price at less than Rs. 5 lacs. He conveyed that the company achieved the goal, through cost-efficiency measures and large scale localisation of the new Brio 2011 components. However, the top-end version of the new Brio 2011 will cost around Rs. 5.1 lacs.

Nagai said, "The new Honda Brio India is at present about 80 per cent localised and over the next few months, will reach 90 per cent. This has been key to the pricing strategy of the Honda Brio."

The new 2011 Honda Brio is expected to compete with big names like the Hyundai i10, Maruti WagonR and General Motors Chevrolet Beat, which have the same price range as Honda Brio.

The new Honda Brio India will be rolled-out in four variants. Nagai said that Honda Brio expects to attract majority of customers residing in small cities. In the bigger cities; however, the demand for existing models such as the City, Civic and Accord is likely to overpower that of New Honda Brio.

"The compact car segment will soon become the second pillar of business for Honda in India," Nagai was quoted as saying.

Nagai communicated that the manufacturing process of the new Brio, which is backed by the power of a 1.2-litre petrol engine, involved brainiac and skilled engineers of Honda Seal Cars India right from the starting stage.

On exports of components, Nagai said Honda Seal Cars India has already started the process of shipping components of the new Brio to Thailand from its facility at Rajasthan.

"We will have export turnover of Rs. 112 crore this fiscal," he said. The company also exports components for the City and Jazz to Malaysia and Indonesia.

Thus, the new Honda Brio India, which is the cheapest car produced by the company till date, will surely pose a threat to the sales of cars that already exist in the Indian auto market.