Honda Motor Company is redrawing its India strategy after years of shrinking market share and a limited product portfolio in the passenger vehicle industry here. The Japanese automaker acknowledged that its long-standing “global standard” approach towards product development may not have fully aligned with the needs and preferences of Indian customers.
Honda President and CEO Toshihiro Mibe told reporters on Thursday that India had emerged as one of the few major global markets where sustained growth is still expected, prompting the company to rethink how it develops products for the country.
“India is one of the few markets in the world where growth is expected. However, Honda has a presence in only a limited range of product segments. Honda has not been able to expand unit sales due to an insufficient number of competitive models in each segment,” Mibe said.
For years, Honda relied on products developed around global benchmarks and sold them across markets with limited localisation. Mibe indicated that the strategy no longer works in a market as diverse and cost-sensitive as India.
“One contributing factor is that we have not been able to deliver products that meet customer characteristics and preferences in India. It has been our standard practice to develop and sell all products based on global standard performance specifications.”
“Climate conditions, vehicle usage and customer preferences vary significantly from country to country and region to region. The environment and other regulations are different,” he said.
“Our global standard app may have been somewhat excessive. Therefore, we will redefine the best specifications that fully match the market environment and customer needs in India.”
The comments underline that the automaker’s global product strategy left it disconnected from India’s rapidly changing passenger vehicle market, where sport utility vehicles now dominate consumer demand.
Honda now places India alongside North America and Japan as one of its three core global markets. The focus on India comes at a time when the global automotive industry is undergoing rapid change, driven in part by the aggressive international expansion of Chinese automakers.
While Chinese brands have expanded aggressively across several overseas markets, their presence in India remains limited due to geopolitical tensions and regulatory barriers. That has made India one of the few large markets where Japanese and Korean automakers still see room to consolidate their positions without intense competition from Chinese rivals.
Honda’s urgency also reflects the scale of its decline in India. Its current lineup has narrowed to just three models - the Elevate SUV, City sedan and Amaze compact sedan, leaving major gaps in some of the country’s largest and fastest-growing segments.
Although the Elevate marked Honda’s return to the midsize SUV category, the model has struggled to disrupt established rivals such as the Hyundai Creta and Kia Seltos. At the same time, the company’s once-dominant sedan business has steadily weakened as Indian buyers increasingly shift toward SUVs.
The biggest gap remains the sub-4-metre SUV category, currently among the country’s highest-volume segments. Models such as the Tata Nexon, Maruti Brezza, Hyundai Venue and Mahindra XUV 3XO dominate sales charts, but Honda has no offering in the segment.
Mibe said Honda would begin introducing India-focused strategic models from 2028, targeting “an optimal balance of performance and price”.
“Most importantly, we will launch our strategic models in two categories - vehicles under 4 meters in length, the largest volume segment, and the mid-size category,” he said. “We will proactively utilise local development resources, including external resources, and introduce new models as quickly as possible.”
Last year, Mibe said the company is planning to launch 10 or more models in India by 2030, including seven SUVs, marking the largest product expansion plan in Honda’s two-decade presence in the country.
The company had previously sold several compact products in India, including the Brio, Jazz and WR-V, but most of those models were discontinued over the years, leaving only the Amaze in the sub-4-metre category.
Meanwhile, Honda will reassess its global powertrain portfolio and speed up the rollout of hybrid models ahead of its earlier schedule. Honda plans to reallocate development and production resources toward hybrids while strengthening manufacturing and expanding its electrified lineup.
Globally, Honda aims to introduce 15 hybrid models by the end of the financial year ending March 31, 2030, built around a next-generation hybrid system and platform, primarily targeting North America.
The shift carries added significance for India, where Honda has been slower than rivals in expanding hybrid offerings despite being an early pioneer in the technology. Automakers such as Toyota Motor Corporation and Maruti Suzuki India Limited have already gained momentum in the hybrid segment.
Honda is facing mounting regulatory pressure due to a limited portfolio of low-emission vehicles, making hybrid and EV expansion increasingly critical for compliance as well as competitiveness.