Honda premieres all-new mid-sized SUV for India

The Japanese automotive brand has reworked its product strategy extensively and has ambitious plans for this country and global markets. Mayank Dhingra and Ketan Thakkar track the company’s plans.

- Mayank Dhingra and Ketan Thakkar

Honda Cars India (HCIL) has long been absent from the buzzing mid-size SUV segment and had earlier axed its 2019 plans to introduce the global HR-V in the Indian market. However, four years later, the carmaker has finally unveiled the ASEAN-specific SUV – Elevate – set to launch in the Indian market this festive season.

The company is targeting over 35 percent incremental volumes in the second half of FY24 with the introduction of the Elevate during the festive season later this year and has plans to introduce BEV and five new SUVs by 2030.

Having rightsized the operation in 2020 and exiting the volumes hatchback space, Honda was present in just 10 percent of the addressable market with its sedan portfolio. Hence the entry into the fast-growing mid-size SUV space with Elevate is very critical for the revival of the Honda brand in the fast-growing Indian passenger vehicle market which has overtaken Japan as the third largest market in the world.

Being an extremely critical market for the product, the all-new Elevate saw its global unveiling in New Delhi on June 6, with HCIL set to commence bookings starting July, and deliveries around the August-to-September 2023 time frame.

This in a way is a reboot of Honda’s future in the Indian market. To announce its long-term commitment in the Indian market, Honda Cars India has committed that it will be launching five SUVs till 2030 with an electric version based on the Elevate planned for 2026.