Honda Siel gearing up to introduce hybrid cars

Working with SIAM for homologation rules
Anniversary edition: The President and CEO, Honda Siel Cars India Ltd, Mr Masahiro Takedagawa (right), and the Chief Engineer, Honda Japan, Mr Yasuhiro Kumai, at the launch of the Honda City ZX in the Capital on Tuesday. Honda Siel Cars India launched the 10th anniversary edition of the Honda City ZX with several new features.

Honda Siel Cars India, which is all set to introduce its hybrid car in the domestic market, is waiting for the Government to set the right kind of framework to introduce such cars here.

It has now started chalking out plans with the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) to introduce homologation rules in the country to test its vehicles as per the local conditions.

�We propose to launch our hybrid cars in India for which we are working with Automotive Research Association of India and SIAM to help the Government formulate norms for such cars,� said Mr Masahiro Takedagawa, President and CEO, Honda Siel Cars India, at the launch of Honda City variant to mark its tenth anniversary in the country.

He said that about 50 per cent of the market in Europe of Honda consisted of hybrid cars and for the US market the company was exporting from Japan.

Honda on Tuesday introduced a variant of City, making all its variants costlier by about Rs 3,000 except for V-tec.

Commenting on sales, Mr Takedagawa said he did not foresee competition from Maruti�s SX4 impacting the sales of City despite the price hike as the company addressed different set of customers.

Mr Takedagawa attributed the decline in sales to the expansion at its existing facility, which had hampered its production and high interest rates.

However, with the festival season, he expected the sales to pick up.

At 43,000 units in 2005, the company posted sales of 60,000 units last year and anticipating a 15 per cent growth, it is increasing capacity at its existing facility to 70,000 units, he added.