Honda Siel rolls out new City

Honda Siel Cars India on Thursday launched an all-new mid-size car City as part of its strategy to increase turnover by 50 per cent this year and said study was on to launch a car in the volume-driven segment.

The new City would come in three versions - Exi, Gxi and CVT - priced at Rs 667,000, Rs 707,000 and Rs 767,000 respectively, H Yamada, CEO and president, HSCI, told a news conference in New Delhi.

At present, the company was exploring various options to launch a compact car in India, as it aims to have a 10 per cent marketshare in the country by 2010, he said.

Asked if HSCIL could meet the target with just three cars without any vehicle in the compact car category, he said, "No. We cannot have 10 per cent marketshare with this product line up."

"We are exploring various options to launch cars in the premium small car category," he said, declining to give details.

HSCIL also hopes to increase its turnover by 50 per cent this fiscal from Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion) last year.

The company, which developed the new City and the recently launched Accord with an investment of Rs 150 crore (Rs 1.50 billion), hopes to sell 12,000 units of the car in the next six months.

HSCIL would also start second shift at its Greater Noida plant, which has a production capacity of 30,000 units per annum, from November 15. The move is aimed at better capacity utilisation. With the second shift, the production will go up to 100 units per day from 53 units now.