The Japanese passenger car manufacturer, Honda Cars present in India as Honda Siel Cars is considering setting up another assembly plant at its Rajasthan facility location even as it is facing lot of downturn in sales volumes due to the absence of a diesel portfolio. Mr. Jnaneswar Sen, Senior Vice-President for Sales and Marketing on this occasion commented that the company is fully aware of the pressure it is facing due to the absence of the diesel powertrain and are taking efforts currently to develop a diesel engine specifically for the Indian market at its R&D facility in Japan.
Honda Siel whose production capacity was affected massively due to lack of supply of components from countries like Japan and Thailand has now restored back to full production. The lack of supply of components was due to the tsunami in Japan and the devastating floods in Thailand. Mr. Sen added in his statement that the Honda Brio production is going in full swing and the company expects to clear the backlog of orders by March. On the other hand, the backlogs for the Jazz and City will be cleared very soon.
So far, Honda has only 1 plant in Greater Noida which has an annual turnover capacity of 1.2 lakhs. Now, it is planning on adding a second assembly plant at its Rajasthan plant which currently makes auto components. Mr. Sen added that initially this plant will have a production capacity of 60,000 units but the 600-acre Rajasthan facility was big enough to house a two lakh units capacity. In total, Honda Siel has so far invested about Rs. 3000 crores in its Indian operations including the Rs. 1300 crore Rajasthan auto component plant. Once the new plant comes up, Honda will not face capacity constraints after the introduction of its diesel portfolio into the Indian market.
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