Honda Cars resume full production

 Honda Siel Cars India Ltd, one of the leading car makers in India, has resumed production in full capacity in its plant.

The company is producing 450 cars a day in two shifts to clear the massive production backlog, created mainly due to short supply of major electronic components, said Honda Siel Cars Senior Vice President – Sales & Marketing Jnaneswar Sen in Bangalore.

Honda’s car production in India was significantly affected due to non-supply of critical components coming from Japan, which was hit by Tsunami and from the Thailand-floods. In fact, the flooding in Thailand plant disrupted production of Honda’s first small car Brio, soon after it was launched in November 2011. Soon after its launch, the company got a booking of 9,000 cars but could supply only 2,000 before the production had stopped. Sen says, now that the production is in full swing, the entire backlog for Brio will be cleared by the end of March 2012.

According to Sen, the company has lost production of 15,000 cars, about 30 per cent of its annual output, due to non-supply of parts. Having resumed production, Honda is also planning a high-impact advertisement campaign for Brio through the print and electronic media. The company claims that among small petrol cars, Brio has the most responsive 1.2 litre engine because it comes with Honda’s patented i-VTEC (intelligent variable valve timing and electronic lift control) engine technology. To reach out to more customers, the company is also planning to add 20 more dealers to its present network of 134 showrooms in 84 cities, Sen added.

Meanwhile, there are unconfirmed reports that Honda will lauch its first diesel car in India by the end of 2012 and it is likely to be Honda Civic with a 1.6 litre common rail diesel engine. The company has recently showcased the same car in Tokyo and is going to display it in the forthcoming Geneva Auto show.