Honda, the well appreciated Japanese car maker, is predicting over 50 per cent increase in its sales in the North East region during period 2013-2014 despite of the fact that the overall four-wheeler market is experiencing an unfavourable sales scenario. Honda seems all set to make the best use of the available North East market potential, and some trusted sources also reported that the company has aggressive plans to gradually expand and finally capture the entire market in not to distant future.
“If we look at the current industry growth, which is negative since last several months, the NE region is still expected to post a double digit growth,” the Senior Vice-President of Honda Cars India Limited, Jnaneswar Sen was quoted as saying.
Owing to the smaller market base, North East market is currently attracting a large number of automobile players and trend is expected to continue with Honda coming in as well. When asked about how much increase Honda is expecting, Sen explained, “The North East market is increasingly gaining significance for Honda as this market has lot of sales potential for hatchbacks and compact sedans…We are hoping more than 50 percent jump in our sales in the region.”
According to Sen, the small and medium segment cars such as Brio hatchback and Amaze entry level sedan, and City mid size sedan have highest demand, and will be front runners for helping the company to reach its stated targets in the region. Already in the April-June phase, company has posted 26 per cent increase at 469 units over the same period the previous year in North East. Honda was reported to have sold a total of 73,483 units across the country, of which only 1,212 units were reported from the North East region.
Discussing about company's plans to increase the number of dealerships in the region, Sen said, “In next 18 months, we will be expanding our presence in the entire North East and will have new facilities coming up in Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland.” With the first dealership in the region started at Guwahati in 2008, currently Honda has dealerships in Dibrugarh in Assam, along with Gangtok in Sikkim; in addition to Guwahati.
Car sales in India has tumbled to a record eight month in a row in June 2013 with a fall of 9 per cent, indicating the slowdown in economy, which is reported to be here to stay for at least sometime now.
