Honda Motor India is all gearing to launch cars with diesel engines. Honda Motors is in thefinal touches to its long-term diesel game plan for India, which will culminate in India emerging a global hub for diesel engines for compact cars.
Honda’s R&D centre in Tochigi, have already started development on the prototypes of diesel engines of 1.4 to 1.5 litres for compact cars are currently being worked on by some of the company’s best engineers from across the globe.
“Honda R&D is currently developing a small diesel engine. However, we do not have anything specific to share right now,” Jnaneswar Sen, senior VP, sales & marketing, told ET. Those familiar with the strategy say that the diesel engine won’t be ready in a hurry – not in 2012 for sure – as the development process has only just begun.
Once Honda Siel is in a position to power its compact car range – led by the Brio and the Jazz — in India with diesel engines, it will move to the second phase of its strategy for the affordable fuel – of setting up an engine plant that can cater to the need of global markets.
Recently Honda unveiled a 1.6 litre diesel engine at the Tokyo Motor Show to power the Civic for the European markets. It also has a 2.2 litre diesel engine that powers the Accord and CR-V for the European markets.
However both the above mentioned engines won’t make it to India. Which basically means that the New CR-V and Accord won’t get a diesel engine. Honda claims that the engines for the European market have been developed taking into account the low sulphur content in the diesel there, unlike in India.
Honda certainly needs more cars with diesel engines for the Indian market if they want a larger share.
