Honda sales decline 9% in August, carmaker hopes festive season to bring cheer

Honda Cars India reported 9.43 per cent decline in passenger vehicles sales in August. The carmaker could clock only 7,509 units last month as compared with same month last year.

In August 2019, the carmaker had reported sales of8,291 units.

“A quarter into the unlock phase, we are progressing as per our plan, both in terms of supply and demand registering a sequential growth of 39 per cent over July this year," HCIL Senior Vice President and Director (Marketing & Sales) Rajesh Goel said in a statement.

Goel also said that the carmaker is optimistic about the upcoming festive season and expects demand to improve further. The company has ramped up its daily production to 100 per cent of pre-Covid level this month.

"However, considering that Covid-19 cases are constantly on a rise, we need to continuously monitor overall buying sentiment and its impact on auto sales going forward," Goel said.

The company has launched four new models in last two months starting with new WR-V, fifthgeneration City, Civic (BS 6 diesel) followed by the new Jazz. On Monday, the carmaker also announced a realigned variant line-up of fourth-generation City. The two variants - SV MT Petrol and V MT Petrol - that the fourth-generation City will continue to be sold in. The car will be available alongside the latest fifth-generation City that was launched earlier this year.

The latest Honda City, however, seeks to offer a more premium drive experience as well as a more comfortable drive. Under the hood is a new 1.5L i-VTEC DOHC petrol engine with VTC in 6-Speed manual transmission and 7-Speed CVT, as well as a 1.5L i-DTEC DOHC diesel engine in six-speed manual transmission.

Since the production resumption in June this year, the company has ramped up its monthly domestic despatches from 1,398 units in June to 5,383 units in July to 7,509 units last month, the automaker noted.