Honda is very good caretaker, just like a new born is cared by mom. Therefore, when Honda’s premium hatchback Jazz broke norms with its audacious pricing, detractors smiled because no carmaker has yet been able to crack the premium small car segment here. General Motors (GM) tried and failed miserably with its pricey SRV. Skoda Fabia’s 300 units are just sold. All it clarifies is that Honda is not ready to give up yet.

Most of the cars are priced in the range of Rs 3-5 lakh in India, the Jazz is being sold for around Rs 7-7.5 lakh, which brings it into the next level of full-blown sedans. The question arises; will Honda be able to decipher the price code? Jnaneswar Sen, VP (marketing), Honda Siel Cars India (HSCI) represents his feelings and says it will. He said that, “We presently have a customer base of 3.5 lakh people. About 70% of these customers are multiple car owners and to begin with, we are targeting these customers for the Jazz”. After the beginning of delivery on June 10^th current fiscal, HSCI has been able to sell 2,032 units of the Jazz till now. And if Mr Sen has worked well, more is on the yet to arrive.

Repeat purchase is very high for each of the Honda models as per HSCI. For an example: 42% of Jazz buyers have owned a Honda car previously. 30% of City customers are old Honda customers. Then 50% of the Civic customers are also old Honda customers. Also 61% of the Accord customers are old Honda customers too.

Yup correct, there is a catch in it! Hyundai recently launched two new variants of the i20, its premium hatchback — a 1.4 litre CRDi and a 1.4 litre petrol automatic transmission as competition is closing fast. The base version of the diesel i20 is priced in the range Rs 6.19-7.2 lakh which is almost Rs 60,000 cheaper than the cheapest Jazz. Moreover, it’s a diesel too. The Korean carmaker is planning to sell 4000 units of the i20 here shortly as per Arvind Saxena, Sr VP, marketing and sales at Hyundai Motor India. He said that, “we have already sold 13,000 units in the domestic market in the last six months”.

The rationale behind launching the highly expensive SR-V here, explained a senior official from General Motors. He said, “We never thought that the SRV would become a volume player. No manufacturer can sell a lot of hatchbacks at that price, especially in India. Our experience shows that it’s a niche segment which can only be used to showcase your range, that’s all”.

Honda is also planning to launch its “small car” after a long timespan of three years in India. According to the HSCI officials, the sketches on the design board are already in place. The next coming 3 months will reveal if the Jazz help prop up things for HSCI’s original volume player or not?

Popular Honda car Prices in India
Honda Jazz Mode (Petrol)
Honda Jazz Active (Petrol) 

Honda City ZX Exi (Petrol)
Honda City ZX Gxi (Petrol)
Honda City ZX VTEC (Petrol)
Honda Civic 1.8V MT (Petrol)
Honda Civic 1.8S AT (Petrol)
Honda Accord Vti-L A/T (Petrol)
Honda Accord V6 (Petrol)
Honda CR-V MT (Petrol)
Honda CR-V AT (Petrol)

Related News:
Honda Siel Cars sales increase 12% in July ’09
Honda India reduces prices for Accord & CR-V models
High-end car prices to fall soon
Honda India June sales increase 6.5%

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Posted by Naresh Koshti on 4 August, 2009 11:13:22 AM IST #