Honda Siel Cars India is stepping up its research and development (R&D) operations in the country in order to increase local content across its product range. With cost savings in mind the company has recently added more members to its research and development team in India. The carmaker is also focused on increasing component sourcing from the Indian market in order to reduce its dependence on imported parts.

At present the company's City model has 75 per cent localisation, while the Civic is slightly lower at 72 per cent. As for the eagerly awaited Jazz, which will be launched in June, Honda says it has 65-70 per cent localization. The company expects this figure to increase to 8o per cent in the future. The Jazz will be made at the company's new Takapura plant in Rajasthan. The Jazz is expected to be priced at around Rs. 7 lakh, which is higher than its competition such as the Skoda Fabia and Hyundai i20.

Honda recently launched the 1.2-litre i-VTEC petrol engine that will power the Jazz and which has been specially developed for the Indian market. The Jazz has already been launched in Europe, North America, Latin America and some parts of Asia including Japan, China, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. In India, Honda is increasing localisation for this model in order to market it at a competitive price. Besides Jazz, Honda's other models will also have higher localisation in the near future, according to the company.

Honda is also looking at increasing its dealer network. The carmaker has nearly doubled its showrooms in the past three years to 103 from 55 and plans to open dealers in Allahabad, Udaipur, Jodhpur and Salem.