Honda launches new Jazz- Honda Jazz

 News  Dated:Friday, August 19, 2011  

 New Delhi: Japanese auto giantHonda today launched a new version of its premium hatchback Jazz in India,slashing the price by over Rs 1.5 lakh from the existing model as it looks toincrease sales in a fiercely competitive compact car market. 

The company, which is present in India through a joint venture with the SielGroup, launched the new Jazz at prices ranging from Rs 5.50 lakh to Rs 6.06lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi).The old Jazz was priced between Rs 7.12 lakh and Rs 7.56 lakh. 

Honda Siel Cars India (HSCI) Senior Vice-President(Sales and Marketing) Jnaneswar Sen said the company has been able to cut theprices of the Jazz through various cost efficiency measures to address consumerdemands in a very tough market. 

"It is a competitive market and competitionis increasing day by day," he told reporters here. 

Since the launch of the car in 2009, the companyhas been working on to improve supply chain and manufacturing efficiencies andincrease localisation of components to reduce the cost of the vehicle, headded. 

"We have set up the engine block and cylinderheads at our Tapukara plant in Rajasthan. The engine for Jazz and the upcomingsmall car Brio is same, and we are expecting good sales volume for Brio. So,economies of scale has also played a role in passing on the benefit to Jazzcustomers," Sen said. 

The Jazz is powered by a 1.2-litre petrol engineand will give mileage of 16.7 km per litre as per the ARAI conditions. 

The localisation level of components in the newcar stands at about 76 per cent, which is almost the same of the last model, headded. 

After a few months of launching the car in Indianmarket, the sales started falling due to very high price in comparison toproducts from rivals in the same category. 
Sen said HSCI was selling about 500 units of Jazzon an average every month during the last fiscal. It has come down further to200-250 units after April this year due to supply constraints from Japan followingthe earthquake and tsunami. 

"In the next 3-4 months, supply will continueto be limited and once the supply situation improves, volume of Jazz will goup," he said without sharing any sales target. 

The premium hatchback segment is very crowded withmany car makers offering some of their best selling models in the space.Yesterday, market leader Maruti Suzuki launched the new version of Swift at anaggressive introductory price from Rs 4.22 lakh to Rs 6.38 lakh for both dieseland petrol options. 

Some other models include Hyundai's i20, Toyota's Liva, Ford'sFigo, General Motors' Beat and U-VA in the premium hatchback category. Theprices of these models vary between Rs 3.55 lakh and Rs 8.16 lakh (ex-showroom,Delhi). 

Honda's upcoming small car Brio is expected tofurther intensify the competition. Brio will hit the roads next month and willbe priced below Rs 5 lakh.