Honda Cars to close FY18 with 17% volume growth

Chennai: Car maker Honda Cars India Ltd hopes to close this fiscal with 17 per cent growth in volumes sales and will launch six models over the next three years, said a senior official.

"Between April and October 2017, we sold 105,503 units logging l7 per cent volume growth. We hope to retain the same growth percentage for the whole year," Jnaneswar Sen, Senior Vice President-Marketing and Sales, told reporters here.

Last fiscal, Honda Cars India sold around 157,000 units.

According to Sen, the company would also launch six models - upgrading existing models and new ones - over the next three years.

He said the company will expand its distribution network to 360 outlets from the current 348 by the end of this fiscal.

Sen added that India had become the leading car market for Honda in the Asia Oceania region -excluding Japan and China - in 2017.

According to him, Honda Cars India exports a good volume of components and engines out of India to 16 countries.

"Last fiscal we exported Rs 1,140 crore worth of automobile components like crank shafts, forgings, manual transmissions and others."

Sen said the company had started exports of 1.6 litre diesel engines to Thailand from its Rajasthan plant.

"Our car exports are small. Around 5,000 units a year," Sen said.

Sen said the company's two plants - one in Greater Nodia in Uttar Pradesh and the other in Tapukara in Rajasthan - with a total capacity of 240,000 units per annum had a capacity utilisation of around 77 per cent.

Speaking of the company's Amaze model sales, Sen said it was slowing down as the entry level sedan segment itself was on the decline.