SUVs remain in demand: Honda

Hyderabad: Japanese car major Honda Cars India foresees higher demand for sport utility vehicles (SUVs) in the Indian market due to the bad condition of road network in small towns.

“We are evaluating several models based on the feedback from potential customers. These include Civic and WR-V, a bigger SUV, and even diesel variant of Honda CR-V, for possible launch in India,” Yoichiro Ueno, President and CEO of Honda Cars India Limited, said on Friday.

According to experts, SUV sales in India are predicted to cross one million units mark annually by 2020.

In the last seven years, SUVs have eaten into the share of passenger cars. From a high of 79 per cent in 2010-11, the passenger car market has shrunk to 69 per cent share in 2016-17, a fall of 10 percentage points. The share of SUV sales, however, has increased by 12.5 per cent.

According to Mr Ueno, the poor condition of tier-2, 3 and 4 cities will keep the SUVs in demand.

Speaking to the media, the Honda Car CEO said that India is expected to replace Germany as the fourth largest automotive market in the world next year. “India could go on to become third largest market after China and the US by 2020. Currently, Japan ranks third,” he said.

On the launch of electric vehicles in the country, Mr Ueno said India is yet to be ready for electric cars as the price would be double that of a conventional car.

The Indian government expects to replace all fossil fuel cars in the country by 2030, which is tune with Honda’s global objective to sell two-thirds of electric cars.