Honda shifting focus to developing countries

SHIGERU Yamazaki is the director and senior vice-president - sales and marketing at Honda Cars India Limited. He was last week in Kathmandu for the launch of Honda Amaze, an entrylevel sedan from the Japanese auto major. Sanjeev Giri of the Post caught up with Yamazaki to talk about the new Honda car and the company’s strategies for Nepal. Excerpts With the Amaze, Honda has entered the economy car segment. Except for the Brio, Honda has so far been in the Nepali market only in the premium segment. Will this change the company’s strategy here? Definitely, we have strengthened our presence in the entry-level car segment. With the Amaze joining the Honda family in Nepal, the business here will get new dynamics. As for the strategy, we are actually not changing it, but expanding it. While our focus so far was just limited towards the premium segment, we will now be looking at the entry-level market as well. Since the Amaze boasts of several excellent features, it will also appeal to the premium segment car buyers. Now, we will slowly expand towards medium-income people. I am sure they will be delighted to own a Honda motor at such an affordable price. What makes you confident that Amaze will work in the Nepali market? The main factor that makes us confident about its (the Amaze’s) good run in the Nepali market is the customer profile similar to India. People from both India and Nepal have numerous similarities. Also, the car has been manufactured at our Indian plant and it boasts of facilities as per the requirement of customers of this region. How is the Amaze performing in India? The Amaze has done a brilliant job in the Indian market. The sales figure is better than what we had expected. The situation is such that we are already worried about waiting customers. We are also trying to increase our production capacity and looking forward to opening a new factory in Rajasthan within the next spring. Based on the current enquiries, we have to expand the current manufacturing facilities by 100 percent. Since the sales volume in Nepal is low compared to India, how important is the Nepali market for Honda? Honda is shifting important markets from the United States to Asian and Indian markets. We are now shifting our focus on developing countries. So that makes the Nepali market a key. The Amaze and the Brio have been exclusively manufactured for these markets. Sensing the huge potential of this region, we recently opened an R&D facility in India. So this shows we are focused on this market. And to grow here (the region), the Nepali market will definitely play an important role. The Nepali market is dominated by the likes Hyundai and Maruti Suzuki.What are your plans for increasing the market share here? Definitely, both these manufacturers are big in Nepal, and in India too. We are trying to localise our products so that we can reduce costs. This is a price sensitive market and reduction in the price will help us compete. Tell us about the new products the Nepali market can expect in the near future? Our President has already announced publicly that Honda will be having four new models launched in the Indian market within the next two years. So these models have high potential of being introduced in Nepal. However, I cannot assure all these products will be here in Nepal. Shigeru Yamazaki Director and Senior Vice-president Honda Cars India Limited