[zeus18]

Caveat: it's not about Elevate but Honda. (moderators kindly move this to the suitable thread if it's found not in line)


I do agree that Honda's exit from India wouldn't cause a major dent in their profits or operating income globally. But looking at the larger geographic picture, I'm sure it will hurt Honda.


Honda's global sales figures majorly come from the USA, China and Japan. Their sales are falling in China. Hyundai+Kia combine has assaulted Honda in the USA and has surpassed the sales of Honda for quite some years now. They are losing out the South East Asian market to the Chinese OEMs. In the EU and UK and Australia, Honda is probably the 20th largest car brand in terms of sales.

India could be their potential launch pad for the rejuvenation of their automobile business but the Honda leadership in India seems clueless. I hope Honda bounces back.

[Paritoshkalra]

As per my observations, Honda Elevate's front look is a big concern. That grill in the front looks really odd. Honda BRV and Honda CRV had far better front design meany years back.

2nd major concern is that only the TOP model has the CRUISE CONTROL. This is a big reason why people are not buying this car.

80% of the Hyundai Creta, Grand Vitara and Kia Seltos sold in India are not TOP MODEL. They are base or mid variants which contribute to major amount of sales. Honda's variant distribution has gone wrong.

Even the 4th Gen HONDA CITY V used to have Cruise Control. Seeing no CRUISE CONTROL in V and VX CVT is a big mistake by Honda. Looks like they have not done their homework properly!

ELEVATE has failed to impress many. It comes with that old engine which many decades old. There is rattling noises inside their brand new car. NVH of ELEVATE is even worse than HONDA AMAZE. There is no Hybrid Engine on offer. Honda has everything with them. If they can offer Hybrid in City, then should have done it with Elevate also.

Honda Designers should be reviewing their own cars which they used to make many yrs back. Those designs were far better than what they are producing in India now.

Honda's leadership in India seems to be completely clueless. It's time to think for HONDA! Else they might be extinct like FORD and GM.

[Tech]

Originally Posted by MJ23

Will not sell in India.

Ha Ha, I completely get it, many Indians buy for show off to show their macho SUV or their latest EV, more than the engineering behind the engine. I never go by sales numbers or herd mentality.

[Tech]

Originally Posted by Apex1815

I have worked for 12 yrs with a Japanese MNC and can give some relatable inputs which are mainly related to the Japanese work culture:

Your inputs are spot on and 100% reflects in Honda's current outlook towards India.

Originally Posted by Paritoshkalra

Honda's leadership in India seems to be completely clueless. It's time to think for HONDA! Else they might be extinct like FORD and GM.

Isn't it funny, we people are more concerned for Honda than its own management team. They seem completely uninterested.

Doing their homework properly reflects in the number of combinations of variants across all powertrains. Being first in the market also signals the company's dedication.

These lacking initiatives suggests that their parent organization management team itself is not focused on India as they don't see India's contribution to their annual sales numbers valuable enough and the ball is definately not in the court of the Honda India's management team.

[John316_WRC]

As customers we have all the rights to ask for more from manufacturers. I do agree Honda should have given a turbo option in the Elevate. But what they've done is given us the "City of the pseudo SUV segment". Honda 99% of the time get the basics right and the Elevate is no exception. Enough has been said of its inherent strengths.

Honda's sales duds are the fault of their marketing and sales teams.

Criticism is necessary, true. So maybe we should be fair and also have new threads for the faults of other manufacturers also, such as Kia/Hyundai, or Maruti, Tata etc.

1. Questionable safety of Kia & Hyundai cars. (I'm glad the Verna scored 5 stars but the bodyshell is still rated unstable)
2. DCT issues across the range.
3. Fuel pump issues in many many cars across the model range.
4. Fuel pump issues even in naturally aspirated engines!
5. Steering rack issues
6. Premature clutch wear in diesel models
7. Sub-par paint quality complaints
8. AC coil issues and AC panel issues (3 of my close friends have i20s, all 3 have had major AC replacements done at least once in their life cycle)
9. Exorbitant service costs (my 2016 BRV iVtec has been cheaper to service than my friends i20)

Someone had to say something!
Bling features alone don't make a car.
Nothing against the thread OP.

We the customers are the reason Ford left India and maybe we will be the reason for Honda too.

Sad but true.

[zeus18]

Though the Honda HRV is underpinned on the same Honda global small car platform which underpins city, it's surprising that Honda delayed the launch of HRV in India and eventually didn't launch it and went for a new model altogether in Elevate. Since the Elevate didn't perform as expected, I'm going back to the HRV question. New gen HRV was launched in 2021. Had Honda introduced the same model in 2021 with features that are present in Elevate currently, it would have become a hit and they could have followed up with facelifts and feature updates. Look wise, HRV is better. I wonder what made Honda to develop a new model altogether, albeit I read in the past that Honda was not confident about the crossoverish look of HRV.


I personally think that HRV might have been successful and eaten in Creta sales.

[motorworks]

Originally Posted by John316_WRC

Someone had to say something!
Bling features alone don't make a car.
Nothing against the thread OP.

We the customers are the reason Ford left India and maybe we will be the reason for Honda too.

Sad but true.

No offence, but why should we blame the Indian customers or rather ourselves for what Ford did or for what Honda may do? Its very absurd if you ask me.

The Ford Fiesta was a reasonably successful car in India while the Figo was a super successful hatchback. And the Ecosport too did very good numbers. For the price, the Endeavour used to sell nearly 700-900 units on an average, which even today something like a Kodiaq or Tuscon cannot match. Forget the Fortuner, its always been in its own league. So in a way, India appreciated Ford. But the moment Ford launched cars like the Aspire which lacked the ford DNA, it lost its customer base. And to make it worse, they invested too heavily in the Gujarat plant which made the US headquarters question the very basis of existence in India. And all this coincided with some board room strategy which meant Ford exited some low market-share regions like india. They were in fact on the verge of collaborating with Mahindra for the XUV700 ( just imagine if that had happened).

Secondly and most relevant to this thread, Honda too has always got more than its due in India. The City has always been the benchmark in the executive sedan segment. All auto journalists have always gone ga-ga over the vtec engine, even till date. And until say, 2016-17, before the Creta was launched, the City was always the defacto 10-12 lakh executive car. And deservedly so.

At the same time, what else did Honda do? The Brio? It was touted to be the Swift’s rival, but it came across as a car that seemed half a segment below the swift, interiors, general build quality etc. I owned the 1st gen Swift Dzire and my wife owned a Brio, so i definitely what im talking about. But even then, the Brio wasnt a flop, it did reasonably ok, just that it had no diesel at a time when the swift had. So is that the fault of the Indian customer? And then Honda made the Mobilio, when they had just one rival, the Ertiga. Customer ddo not necessarily understand that both the Ertiga and the mobilio were actually based on the Swift and the Brio. Why wouldn’t people buy the mobilio from Honda? I mean its afterall the same company which sells the great City, right? And just like how Brio was perceived as not great, the Mobilio met with the same fate. Very brave of Honda to bring it back as the BRV!

And all this while, no diesel! And when they finally brought the diesel, you had the torque kings in the segment, the Verna, Rapid and Vento all of which had much superior diesel engines!

Even now, the Amaze has been a fairly successful sub 4m sedan, right? Its sold more than a lakh cars. But no updates. No 6 airbags. No regard for any crash ratings when Tata and Mahindra have now taken “safety” as their new trump card. Koreans have features, Indian auto companies harp on safety, what does Honda harp on, the Vtec engine and the CVT gearbox?

Ok, now the Elevate. Its a good car, no doubt. But how can you come late and yet come unprepared? The Koreans have diesel, petrol, DCT, TC, IMT and what not. The Japanese folks have hybrid tech. Even VW and Skoda for all their dismal performance have 2 turbo petrol engines. The Elevate? The same ivtec. The same CVT. Its 2024 and its not enough.

The thing is, india is aspirational, not a third world country. And thats why the Logan, Etios, Chevrolet sail etc all failed.

And criticism is across the board, thanks to social media. Koreans are yet to get the safety aspects right ( but they do seem to be working on this, with the new Verna), Tata and Mahindra have quality issues, but they are improving steadily. And all of them have been making their business work. Honda has to work on itself, for its own benefit and profits. Lets not pin the blame on the indian customers.

[sharmanova]

Honda has sold 1,723 units of the Elevate in August 2024, marking a 28.5% M-O-M increase but a 39% Y-O-Y decrease.

[46TheDoctor]

Elevate is a great car with strong basics and it can be a top performer if Honda:

1. Adds essential but currently missing features like Ventilated seats, Premium infotainment system with 360 camera, subwoofer, etc.

2. Provides hybrid powertrain which they already have in City which will make elevate very fuel efficient

3. Make it a 5 star crash safety rated car.

If Honda does all these improvements and price the car at Creta's levels, it will sell in great numbers as Honda also commands good brand value which is comparable to at least Hyundai/Kia if not better.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

1-year sales infographic by ACI shows the product tanking quite badly post the launch period. Hope Honda has some trick up its sleeve for the upcoming festive season:



Source

[mukeshannamalai]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

1-year sales infographic by ACI shows the product tanking quite badly post the launch period. Hope Honda has some trick up its sleeve for the upcoming festive season:

Attachment 2651996

Source

Honda should bring Elevate Hybrid and essential features like ventilated seats and other competitive features to Elevate, it is now clear that EV cars sales are declining and consumers are worried about charging infrastructure, very few think EV as primary car. Elevate looks better than all other CSUV. The decline in Elevate sales clearly shows consumers are not interested in this engine and lack of features. Honda should upgrade Elevate with turbo engine, Hybrid and all other features with competitive price instead of focussing on Elevate EV which is not going to bring them volume. every EV cars are struggling to bring sales, its just the initial hype around the EV cars when they introduce new models but over few months sales decline.

[RJ411]

Originally Posted by John316_WRC

We the customers are the reason Ford left India and maybe we will be the reason for Honda too.

Sad but true.

While its partly true on what you have said, we simply cannot blame the customers here for Honda's complacency in Indian market.

Whether we like it or not, both the Japanese giants Toyota and Honda consider India as a 3rd world market.

Toyota have at least now woken up to a certain extent by introducing hybrids, tie up with Suzuki and have kept themselves steady in sales chart.

If you look at Koreans they are bombarding the market with all possible engines, gearbox variants and literally I as a customer have everything that I can think of within that same showroom. Particularly Kia who entered the market late and are marching on successfully. Maybe in couple of years they will bring their own hybrid options, which is only going to be positive for them.

Our own desi carmakers Tata and Mahindra have improved leap and bound in the last 10 years and have successful cars in various segments.

Honda has no one else to blame other than themselves. They could have easily introduced great products with their expertise in the industry. Instead they chose to be stupid enough to launch half hearted cars.

With all due respect, if they leave our market only a very few segment of people/customers will miss them.

Thanks