Honda discontinues Civic & CR-V in India to focus on car segments below City

Honda Car India has officially announced a realignment of its manufacturing operations in India. With the new announcement, Honda has now discontinued two vehicles – the Civic and the CR-V from the model line-up in India. The all-new Honda City, which was launched earlier this year will be the most premium and expensive car that the brand will now sell in India.

While Honda has officially announced that the production at its Great Noida plant has stopped now, the production of the Civic and the CR-V has been phased out completely. The production of the Honda City sedan has now shifted to the manufacturer’s Tapukara plant, near Alwar, Rajasthan.

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Mr. Gaku Nakanishi, President & CEO, Honda Cars India said,

Despite an uptick in sales in the last three months, the current market conditions remain unpredictable for the industry at large. The impact of COVID-19 has pressed us to strengthen our constitution, and to achieve the same, HCIL has decided to consolidate its manufacturing operations by making the Tapukara plant a unified manufacturing base. HCIL continues to believe in the resilience of the Indian economy and hope for a quicker recovery of the market. India is extremely important market in Honda’s global strategy and HCIL is committed to bring its latest and advanced technology models including electrified vehicles in future.

Honda Car India sales were massively impacted due to the COVID-19 situation. However, even before that, the Japanese manufacturer was not delivering strong numbers in the market. The all-new Honda Civic was launched in the Indian market last year after skipping a generation of the sporty sedan. However, it did not get the sales it expected for in the Indian market. In the last few months, Honda sold only a couple of hundred Civic sedans every month, which is quite low. Coming to the CR-V, the sales number could not even cross 35 units per month in the last 6 months.

Honda will continue to offer all the other vehicles apart from these two products at the moment. The cars starting from the Honda Amaze, Honda Jazz, Honda WR-V and the Honda City will remain on sale in the market.

While there is no news about future products from the brand. Honda has said in a press release that they will bring the latest and advanced technology models to the Indian market. Also, the Japanese manufacturer has said that they are also planning to launch Electric Vehicles in the Indian market in the future. However, no timelines have been provided yet.

Honda is expected to launch the hybrid version of the City sedan next year. A few reports suggest that the car may come as soon as the first half of 2021. The Honda City e:HEV or the hybrid vehicle gets electric motor that generates a maximum of 108 PS and 253 Nm of peak torque. There is also a 1.5-litre i-VTEC petrol engine that produces a maximum of 98 PS and 127 Nm of torque. It will be one of the most fuel-efficient vehicles in the market when launched but it will be priced much higher than the regular variants of the City. The Honda City and the Amaze remain the best-selling cars from the brand in the Indian market.

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