Honda Elevate
| Photo Credit: S. Muralidhar

Honda Cars India plans to introduce five sports utility vehicle in the country by 2030 as it looks to have a strong presence in the robustly growing segment, according to a top company executive.

The company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Japanese auto major Honda Motor Company, on Monday made a foray into the mid-sized SUV segment with an all-new product — Elevate — priced between ₹10.99-15.99 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).

The model will compete with the likes of Hyundai Creta, Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara, Kia Seltos and Toyota’s Urban Cruiser Hyryder, among others.

“Our focus is now on the SUV segment. Starting from Elevate we are going to introduce five SUVs by 2030,” Honda Cars India President & CEO Takuya Tsumura told PTI in an interaction.

It is very important for the company to be in the SUV segment which has become the leading vertical in terms of volumes, he added.

The contribution of the SUV segment in the overall passenger vehicle sales in the country has risen to over 48% this year from 43% in FY23.

Honda sells City and Amaze sedans in the country.

With Elevate it expects to bring in a new set of customers to its fold.

“We have been missing in the SUV segment, so the introduction of Elevate is a big day for us,” Tsumura said.

The mid-sized SUV holds the potential to become a key pillar of Honda’s business in India, offering remarkable value to the evolving customers, he added.

The company plans to bring a battery electric version of the model within next three years, Tsumura noted. Elaborating further, Honda Cars India VP (Marketing and Sales), Kunal Behl said the mid-sized SUV segment (over 4 meter in length) has witnessed a jump of 34% in sales this year as compared with last year with average monthly sales now hovering around the 70,500-unit mark.

He noted that the company has received great response for Elevate after commencing bookings in July and the focus now is on the timely deliveries in the festive season.

“We are not targeting any specific number (in terms of sales)  but till now after commencing bookings in July, without revealing the price we have got 5-6 months of waiting on certain trims,” Behl said.

So the current endeavour is to align production to meet the demand, he added.

Tsumura noted that the company has ramped up production capacity to 660 units a day at its Tapukara (Rajasthan) based manufacturing facility. The company is also planning to increase the production capacity  in the future, he added.

When asked about the ship shortage issue, Tsumura noted that the situation is much better now and that the company has acquired required electronic components for Elevate in advance in order to meet the production plan.

The company also plans to export Elevate but first the focus is to cater to the pending orders in the domestic market, he added. The manual four variants of Elevate come with an introductory price ranging between ₹10.99 lakh and ₹14.9 lakh while the automatic trims are tagged between ₹13.2 lakh and ₹15.99 lakh.

The model is powered by a 1.5 litre petrol engine paired with a six-speed manual and a seven-speed continuously variable transmission (CVT). The manual and CVT trims come with a fuel efficiency of 15.31 kmpl, 16.92 kmpl respectively, as per the automaker.

Representational image of a Maruti Suzuki showroom
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Maruti Suzuki India on Friday reported its highest-ever monthly wholesales at 1,89,082 units in August.

The auto major’s dispatches to dealers last month were 14% higher as compared to 1,65,173 units in August.

Total domestic passenger vehicle sales were at 1,56,114 units as against 1,34,166 units in the year-ago month, a growth of 16%, Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) said in a statement.

Sales of mini segment cars, comprising Alto and S-Presso, declined to 12,209 units last month from 22,162 units in August 2022, it added.

Dispatch of compact cars, including Baleno, Celerio, Dzire, Ignis and Swift rose to 72,451 units over 71,557 units in the year-ago period.

Utility vehicles, consisting of Brezza, Grand Vitara, Jimny, Ertiga and XL6, clocked sales of 58,746 units last month as compared to 26,932 units in August last year.

MSI said its exports last month stood at 24,614 units as against 21,481 units in the same month last year.