Though it was once the country’s largest-selling ‘premium sedan’, the Civic is the latest victim of Honda’s troubled car operations in India and the carmaker has canned the launch of the latest generation.
The ninth generation, already on sale in the US, Australia, Thailand and other international markets, will not be launched in India because it’s too expensive and does not have a diesel version, a component supplier told Economic Times of India (ETI).
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“It’s not coming to India, we have been told,” the person said. He said Honda Siel has reimbursed his firm the cost incurred for developing and supplying parts for the new car after the project got scrapped.
In an email reply to ET queries, Honda Siel did not comment on if it has any plans to launch the Civic in India. “Thanks for your email. However we do not comment on media speculations,” the company wrote, not responding to specific questions.
Last financial year, Civic sales more than halved to 2,296 cars, much lower than the 8,904 Toyota Corolla Altis and 8,002 GM Chevrolet Cruze sold in the country. Almost all competing brands such as Corolla, Cruze, Skoda Laura and Renault’s Fluence are available with diesel engines.
A second component maker, who was also working on the Civic project, said the price of the new car made it unviable for the company to launch it in India as competitive products have much lower price tags. The new Civic would have been pricier than the current models, the person said.
Honda, which was India’s number one premium car brand for more than a decade since it entered the country in 1995, is now having a tough time. Industry insiders blame it on the carmaker’s inability to gauge the dynamic market shift to diesel models as well as delay in launching small compact cars.
Honda Siel sales dipped 23% to 2,667 units in June. In the quarter ended June, sales improved 157% to 20,076 units, mainly because its supplies had halted in the first quarter of last year due to earthquake and tsunami in Japan last March.
Automotive analysts told ETI Honda is under margin pressures after cutting prices drastically in the last couple of years.
“The City and Jazz saw massive price cuts last years, and still sales have not been enthusiastic for Honda,” a Delhi-based analyst said.
