Indiantelevision.com Team

(14 May 2008 9:30 pm)

MUMBAI: Honda Siel Cars India, which has launched its eighth generation Honda Accord in India, is aiming to set up 100 dealership facilities by the end of 2009 to improve its sales and distribution network.

"We want to develop a better distribution network for our product which in turn will help us upgrade our sales revenue. Hence, we have recently set up 25 new dealership facilities pan India. This adds up to the already existing 55 facilities. Also, we are aiming to increase this number to 100 by 2008-09 to improve our distribution system," stated Honda Siel Cars India vice president marketing Jnaneswar Sen.

To build a strong market for its newly launched Honda Accord, Honda will initially target the present Honda customers.

"Initially, we will be targeting our present Honda customers which exceeds 2.85 lakhs in India, and since our cars are for the premium segment, we will also target the upper segment," said Sen.

"Currently, we aim to reach out to our customers through our various dealers across India. We will also be doing a lot of print and outdoor advertising to grab more eye balls that will further strengthen our customer base," he added.

There will be three different types of this car available in the market - Accord 2.4, Accord 2.4 Elegance and Accord 2.4 Inspire, priced at Rs 1.65 million, Rs 1.68 million and Rs 1.74 million, respectively.

Furthermore, Honda Siel Cars is launching India's first hybrid car, Honda Civic hybrid, by mid June. The half-electric, half-gasoline Civic hybrid, attracting an import duty of 114 per cent, will be imported from Japan and will initially priced around Rs 20,00,000.

"Honda Civic hybrid will be initially targeted at the very premium segment and we are not expecting much increase in the sales volume after the car launches. However, we believe that once the 'would-be' customers get an experience of the car through test driving which will be available at our dealership facilities, the sales volume of Honda Civic hybrid will definitely increase," stated Honda Siel Cars India president and CEO Masahiro Takedagawa.

Honda has sold approximately 16,000 Accord units in India since 2001.