Japanese car maker, Honda Motor, may introduce the Diesel variant of its small car Brio in Indian market as early as end of this year. The company which suffered from production constraint in past six month was planning to launch Honda City Diesel by 2013 as the first diesel model in the country. But, the developments suggest that Brio will beat City sedan due to high demand for small diesel cars.
Honda Motor is testing its newly developed diesel technology, common rail i-DTEC on the Brio and is planning to introduce it in the 1.2-litre version. The diesel variants of the Honda City sedan and Jazz hatchback will be introduced at a later stage.
“Honda is committed to bringing its diesel technology to key markets like India. And to ensure that Honda diesel is best suited to local conditions and offers optimum performance levels, Honda is conducting stringent tests at its R&D centres across several locations,” a company spokesperson said.
The Japanese automaker, which entered India in 1995, has seen sales fall 27% in the first nine months of the current fiscal, largely because it was unable to introduce any diesel variants, which have become popular in India because of the rising cost of petrol.
With the introductions of the diesel variants in the company’s line-up for India, it could only be a matter of time before the Japanese regain their market lead, which is current being enjoyed by Volkswagen and Toyota whose diesel cars account for a large chunk of their sales.
