Honda motor cars have always been popular among Indians, particularly in Delhi, where their amazing engines have had a particular resonance with those who love driving. To this day, over a decade after the first-generation Honda City was withdrawn from the Indian market, it still has its fans, and a well-maintained one still commands a good price.
Which brings us to the Honda Amaze. Honda’s lack of a diesel engine in its portfolio was always seen as a weak spot. This despite the fact that everybody liked their cars, the current Honda City and Honda Accord are among the leaders in their class but for the fact that they use diesel engines. In both those segments, diesel engines dominate and three out of every four cars sold in these segments run on the heavier fuel.
Honda did take its own sweet time developing a diesel engine, but what an engine they have developed. It is by far and away the best diesel engine in the sub-2000cc class available in India today, and would possibly be one of the best small diesel engines in the world with a stunning combination of economy and power.
The Amaze could easily become the best-selling car in its class, in fact many columnists have predicted just that. But Honda’s decision to slow down the pace of their investments in India will probably impact them here. Honda Cars have very limited capacity, even if their plant at Greater Noida runs above capacity they can only make approximately 10,000 cars total every month.
That is Brio’s, Amaze’s, City’s, Accord’s and CRV’s all together. And even if the Amaze dominates, rough predictions would have a production capacity of around 6,000-7,000 units a month.
Some have predicted that the Amaze would decimate the Swift Dzire, the current class leader in terms of sales. And if Honda had the production capacity of both cars and engines, it well might have. But the Dzire alone sells close to 150,000 units a year, it is the best-selling sedan in India by a huge margin.
Personally, I believe that the Honda Amaze will kill all the other pretenders in the segment - the Chevrolet Sail, the Toyota Etios, the Tata Indigo. Even some bigger sedans might see a decline in sales, but that will possibly only happen when Honda fits this engine in the next-generation City. While Maruti sales might be hit slightly, it is the others that need to worry a hell of a lot more than the market leader.
Honda has built an amazing engine, now they have to ramp up their facilities at Tapukara, Rajasthan. Then we might have a truly epic sales battle on our hands, something on the lines of the battle between Daewoo and Hyundai back in 1998. That would be fun!