Honda jostles for India small car market space with Brio launch

Reuters: Honda Motor Co launched its small car Brio on Tuesday, as Japan’s No.3 automaker seeks to expand in the most popular segment in the world’s second-fastest growing car market.

Honda joins its Japanese peers in the fight for a major chunk of India’s lucrative small car segment, which saw Toyota Motor Corp launch Etios Liva this year and Nissan Motor Co rolling out Micra in mid-2010.

The no-frills Brio model is priced at 395,000 rupees ($8,040), compared with 390,000 for Liva. At the time of launch, the lowest-grade model of Micra was priced at 398,000 rupees.

“We have been able to launch the Brio at a competitive price due to our concerted efforts to control costs, maximise production efficiencies and minimize impact of currency fluctuations,” said Takashi Nagai, chief executive of Honda Siel Cars India, the Japanese firm’s India unit.

“We have achieved this through pure localization,” he said.

More than 80 per cent of Brio’s components have been locally manufactured, Nagai said, adding, the company aims to produce as much as 90 per cent of components locally in coming months. Honda also sells its premium hatchback Jazz in India.