In 1995, when the Japanese car major entered the Indian market, it brought a lot of pomp and prestige with itself. Till 1999, it established itself as a brand that is premium and a must from the luxury point of view. But now is 2017, and the brand has lost its vigor due to misplaced products, incorrect pricing and horrendous attitude of the employees towards the market fluctuations The company neither seems to respond to the heavy competition from parallels like Maruti and Hyundai in a productive manner nor seems to be sensitive towards the market needs and demands. Today's customer is more aware and sensitive towards pricing and the features provided in that pricing and the company's officials are so slow that it seems to be a government firm.
The last time Honda booked a profit was in 2007-08 of Rs. 235 crore due to a new plant opened, thus increasing the volume of domestically sold units. Since then, the company has saddled with a loss of consecutive six years. Only in 2015-16, could it again register a profit of Rs. 363 crore. But it is to be noticed here that the profit was not due to some newly launched vehicle recording high sales on boards, but due to increase in the already existing vehicles. Also, the company faced a whopping loss of Rs. 480 crore in 2014-15, so the profit isn't to make much difference.
Even the upgradation of the technology is stagnant. The company entered the multi-purpose vehicles' segment in 2016, while Toyota Innova, Maruti Vitara Brezza, and Renault Duster had already formed a firm grip on the market. It has also been trying to play safe for a long time as their vehicles like Honda City and Amaze have gone in 9th or 10th generations, with minimal new inputs.
Talking about pricing, we see a falling trend of sedans and a rising demand for SUVs, which has made their famous Honda City, Amaze and Jazz less popular. Also, they require a heavy maintenance cost as compared to SUVs round the corner.
Honda Accord-Rs. 40.37 Lakhs
Toyota Camry-Rs. 30.28 Lakhs
Honda Amaze-Rs. 5.53 - Rs. 8.44 lakhs
Hyundai Xcent- Rs. 5.44-6.48 Lakhs
Honda BR-V- Rs. Rs. 8.99 - Rs. 13.18 lakhs
Renault Duster- Rs. 9.45-13.89 Lakhs
Honda Jazz-Rs. Rs. 5.89 - Rs. 9.18 lakhs
Maruti Swift-Rs. 4.76-6.6 Lakhs
This shows that the pricing of the Honda cars is always a notch above the other cars in their segments, and it is seen that the features provided by other cars, even if the pricing is not that high, are much more as compared to Honda cars.
