Japanese auto giant Honda is gearing-up to enter a new era of designing and assembly methods, so that its vehicles can be made lighter and more fuel efficient. In a bid to adopt new designing methods at its assembly lines, the company is planning to invest tens of billions of yen, as per recent reports published in the Japanese business paper Nikkei.
The company will be adopting new manufacturing methods to reduce the overall weight of its portfolio cars. For instance, instead of assembling the sealing, side panels and other panels, the firm plans to the weld the outer panels to the frame. By doing this, the firm will be able to reduce the weight by minimizing the use of bolts and reinforcing materials.
The Nikkei report further adds that the company will initially adopt this new assembling method on company's small cars, and later on will expand this to all of its portfolio models. Honda has already started some of these weight reducing methods in the production of its N Box mini vehicle, which was launched last week. By scaling back on materials and processing steps, the company will be able to make the cars 10 percent lighter, and that too with lower production cost.
The lighter, cheaper and more fuel efficient vehicle will certainly help the company in enhancing its market share in the emerging markets like India and China.
