HONDA Symboll

Honda Motor Company, Limited

Kabushiki-gaisha^?, Honda Technology Research Institute Company, Limited) listen (help·info) is a multinational corporation, engine manufacturer and engineering corporation headquartered in Japan.

The company manufactures automobiles and motorcycles, trucks, scooters, robots, jets and jet engines, ATV, water craft, electrical generators, marine engines, lawn and garden equipment, and aeronautical and other mobile technologies. Honda's line of luxury cars are branded Acura in North America and China. More recently they have ventured into mountain bikes.

Honda is the 5th largest automobile manufacturer in the world as well as the largest engine-maker in the world, producing more than 14 million internal combustion engines each year. Currently, Honda is the second largest manufacturer in Japan behind Toyota and ahead of Nissan.^[2]

Honda is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. Their shares trade on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange, as well as exchanges in Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo, Kyoto, Fukuoka, London, Paris and Switzerland. American Honda Motor Co. is based in Torrance, California. Honda Canada Inc. is headquartered in the Scarborough district of Toronto, Ontario, and is building new corporate headquarters in Markham, Ontario, scheduled to relocate in 2008. ^[3]Hero Honda, a joint venture between India's Hero Group and Honda, is the largest manufacturer of two wheelers in the world. Honda of Canada Manufacturing is based in Alliston, Ontario. Honda has also created joint ventures around the world, such as Honda Siel Cars India Ltd, Hero Honda Motorcycles India Ltd, Dongfeng Honda Automobile Company in China and Honda Atlas Cars Pakistan.

With high gas prices and a weak US economy in the summer of 2008, Honda has reported a 1% sales increase while its rivals have reported double-digit losses. It has the most fuel-efficient model lineup in the industry, as it largely avoided contesting the US truck and SUV market, and its flexible factories could be retooled to prduce in-demand vehicles. Honda's car sales were up almost 20 percent from the same month last year; the Civic and the Accord were among the industry's top sellers.^[4][5]

Your Car

2008 Accord Coupe Starting at: $21,860*		2008 Accord Sedan Starting at: $20,360*		2008 Civic Coupe Starting at: $14,810*		2008 Civic GX Starting at: $24,590*
2008 Civic Hybrid Starting at: $22,600*		2008 Civic Sedan Starting at: $15,010*		2008 Civic Si Coupe Starting at: $21,110*		2008 Civic Si Sedan Starting at: $21,310*
2008 CR-V Starting at: $20,700*		2008 Element Starting at: $18,980*		2008 Fit Starting at: $13,950*		2008 Odyssey Starting at: $25,860*
2009 Pilot Starting at: $27,595*		2008 Ridgeline Starting at: $28,000*		2008 S2000 Starting at: $34,300*

Hero Honda Motors'' year of new models new

What is your FY07 outlook in terms of industry growth and your own volume and margin outlook?
We are looking at a double-digit volume growth in FY06-07, but there will be tremendous pressure on margins this fiscal.

Any specific reason why you expect extra pressure on margins this year?
April started with metal prices going up and we think that going forward, metal prices would harden. The market is also becoming more competent. There are new entrants as well, so there are more players in the market. So obviously, there have to be concerns on the competitive scenario.

If there are pressures from the raw material side and you don't increase product prices, do you think margins could slip into single digits?
All I can say is that as far as the pricing goes, the current market scenario does not allow any of us to pass on cost increases to the customers. Most of the time we have to absorb and manage our own costs and improve our efficiencies to be able to manage our margins. I am not saying single or double digits, but the pressure on margins is going to be there.

What are you factoring in terms of volume growth for both your bikes and scooter segment?
We are looking at a double-digit growth like in the previous year. I think we ought to do very well this fiscal as well. We will definitely do middle and high double digits.

Where is competitive pressure the highest… the executive segment, where pricing would be the stickiest and you may have to offer discounts in line with other manufacturers?
The competitive pressures are there in all segments. On our part, we are trying to see that we do not burden our customers with any cost increases and try to absorb those ourselves. It might hit the margins. But if we try to manage the cost efficiencies well, then we might still be able to manage our margins.

For this financial year, do you have any launches planned and in what categories? Would you phase-out some categories?
We have a number of launches planned for this fiscal. We have eight new launches, out of which there are variants and new launches in this fiscal. In June itself, we are starting with fuel injection technology.

We will be the first one in the country to launch a two-wheeler with a small-sized engine having a fuel injection technology. After that, we have seven more launches lined up in this fiscal itself.

How many of these eight are going to be product variants of existing models and how many would be completely new models?
There would be four variants and four new models.

Is this a year, where you would focus on retaining market share rather than profitability?
We definitely want to go for market share.

Will it continue to be the executive segment where you hold your market leadership or will you look more aggressively at the entry segments as well?
When I talked about four variants and four new launches, we are going to be looking at all the segments.

Will there be any phase-outs along with that?
We let the customer decide on phase-outs. It was only in 2005-06 that there was a phase-out of 'CBZ' and 'Ambition' because of technology reasons. But otherwise, we let the customer decide on our phase-outs.

Could you quantify what kind of discounts you are offering or are likely to offer on key models like 'Splendour' and 'Passion'?
In April and May, we had a promotional offer because of the celebration of having sold a significant number of vehicles. This discount was temporary and none of these are permanent discounts per se.

his is as per the market requirement and the company's milestone that we achieve from time to time when we go out and give out these promotional offers.

"We will be the first one in the country to launch a two-wheeler with a small-sized engine having a fuel injection technology."

Honda Motors is also trying to get a foothold here. Do you envisage any relationship issues as they also try to compete with you in some of your product brackets?
There are no relationship issues. In fact currently, the relationship is on a high. There is positive energy in Thailand and Japan for Hero Honda. Also, we are working very closely not just between Honda and Hero Honda, but also between Honda Motorcycle and Scooters India (HMSI) for Hero Honda to be able to garner more market share, to be able to take on competition together.

You don't see their 125cc bike competing with your models?
As we have said in the past, whenever we decide on models, we try and keep some differentiation so that we do not go for the same market segment, for the same customer.

We try to expand the market segments, so that we can take on one and they can take on the second, to be able to garner more market share. That is how it works with us.

Are you envisaging the pricing of your new launches to be very aggressive, which is why the product mix might lead to a slightly lower margin this year?
We have tried to give products at various price points to make it very easy for the customer to choose and select. We are only trying to expand and diversify that range by giving these variants and new models, specifically in the premium segment.

This is because as I said, we had phased out 'CBZ' and 'Ambition' so we are coming back very aggressively in that segment for sure. At the same time, with the price segment becoming highly competitive, we are again coming back there to be able to garner more market share.

Do you expect any cannibalisation with these new models from the executive segment versus the existing ones?
There is no definite line between one model and the other. There always would be some cannibalisation between our own models. We cannot say that there will be nil cannibalisation, but when we add a new model, we expect both the models put together, to increase our numbers and market share.

Honda Siel Cars

Honda Siel Cars India Ltd., (HSCI) was set up in December 1995 as a joint venture between Honda Motor Co. Ltd., Japan and Siel Limited to manufacture passenger cars in India. The company has brought about three models in India - Honda City, Honda Accord, and Honda CR-V. Its first model was launched in 1997. Very recently Honda Siel Cars has launched one more market friendly model, Honda Civic on 9th July 2006 in India. Honda Siel Cars India Ltd. is ISO 9002 & ISO 14001 certified.