Honda plans 2nd car unit in India

Honda Siel Cars India has stated that the plans for a second plant in India are on. The company officials, however, said that it would be operational only after one-and-a-half years.

"We are considering setting up a plant in one of the four states -- Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra -- and have collected the necessary data. We have not yet zeroed in on any location. This would happen only one-and-a-half years from now," N K Goila, vice-president and director (administration), said in Hyderabad.

Honda Siel has a plant at Greater Noida in Uttar Pradesh with a capacity of 50,000 units per annum. By 2007, the capacity will be increased to one lakh units per annum at an investment of Rs 400 crore (Rs 4 billion).

With regard to consolidation, Goila said at present only the spare parts operations were being consolidated under Honda Motor India Pvt Ltd.

"Equity consolidation of all our holdings in India is still being explored. It may happen much later," he added. Japan's Honda Motor Co operates in the two-wheeler, car and power products segments in India.

With regard to the sales performance of the newly launched Honda Civic, H Shimizu, director (sales and marketing), said that within 10 days of launch, 2,500 units had been booked.

"We hope to sell more than 1,000 units per month," he added. The D-segment car is priced (ex-showroom Hyderabad) at Rs 10.8 lakh and Rs 11.5 lakh for the manual and automatic versions respectively.