Honda Cars India plans to ramp up expand dealer network

Honda Cars India, which has just launched its first MPV, the Mobilio, is planning to ramp up its dealer network to support sales of its three key products that are selling briskly.

While the Mobilio has got off to a super start with 5,530 units sold in August and 20,000 bookings in the kitty, the City and the Amaze has been selling in the region of 5,500 and 4,000 units respectively.

Jnaneswar Sen, director, sales & marketing, Honda Cars India, was speaking to Autocar Professional on the sidelines of last week’s SIAM annual convention.

As part of the dealer expansion, Honda wants to increase the number of outlets from 170 in 107 locations to 230 outlets in 150 locations by the end of the current fiscal year.

The Mobilio is Honda’s second launch in this year with the first being the City which has already totted up over 50,000 bookings. The company has halted sales last month in order to shift production of the sedan to its Tapukara, Rajasthan plant where it currently runs just one shift. With the festive season around the corner, Honda is going to kick off its second shift in November, top sources said. That will take Honda’s capacity from 180,000 to 240,000 units.

Honda has sold over 28,000 units of the Amaze in this calendar, with August sales at 9,198 units, the highest in the current calendar year.