Honda India's new boss is confident of his company’s good performance

The newly appointed, Honda Cars India Ltd's boss, Katsushi Inoue is sure that his company would register profits in the country in coming days with the help of new launches, better capacity utilization and investment in some states.

In one of the very first interviews to the media after taking charge in April this year, Inoue told the Economic Times that his company had recorded profits last year after a gap of several years, which is a good sign.
"We have just got into the black, and should be able to register profits this year - even if meager - as we are still in investment mode," said Inoue, who had visited India 20 times, right from the days when Maruti 800 and Hyundai Santro blazed the streets.
Inoue further said he is focused on selling three lakh units, and set up a new factory in Gujarat that would make strong foundation for Honda in India. He also stressed that he would try to optimize the 3-lakh unit plant capacity in Greater Noida and Rajasthan in the next two to three years.
He said the Indian company will eventually become a manufacturing base for exports to Africa. "Yes, India can become a key base for exports to Africa, as our completely built exports are not that big. However, we don't have enough capacity to serve the global markets yet, and there's still a big potential for India to grow," Inoue said.

The current capacity in India is just enough to cater to the domestic demand, but once the new plant in Gujarat is up and running, Honda will have spare capacity to cater to foreign markets, he said.
Honda Cars India grew 41% till March '15, and with new models lined up for launch, he is confident that the carmaker's "growth momentum" would continue.
The new Jazz premium hatchback will be launched in the next 4-8 weeks before the company enters the lucrative compact SUV space next year, based on its popular Brio platform. Inoue, who sees the large population of youth in India as the "biggest sweet spot and opportunity", said Honda will introduce models which will meet the needs of today's youth and expects the new Jazz to serve this purpose.
He, however, said Honda is yet to take a call on a small car for India. "We have no concrete plans for India as yet," he said. For Honda, Brio could be the entry model for the "near future", and whether the company needs something in the lower price segment than Brio is something they have to decide.

(Image: Indiatimes)