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| OPINION |
By Ishan Raghava |
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The Curious Case of
Honda Motors
Have you ever asked a petrol head, who lived in the 1980’s License Raj India, what the ‘aspirational’ car for him was? There’s a very good chance that he would say the Honda Accord (apart from the de rigueur Mercedes, any Merc in those days would do). For me, in my formative years though, it wasn’t just any Accord, but the fourth-gen version with the sleek headlights, which set my heart aflutter.
The typical 80’s sleek lines (boxy now in hindsight) made it look so impossibly smooth and classy that in that dark grey hue of the car in question, I could do nothing but stare at it in wonderment. Of course, the 2.0VT-L badging didn’t do much to help – it just made the car seem even more exotic, with things like power windows, central locking, automatic transmission, and a sunroof, which I always assumed was a mythical creature of some sort. Not forgetting the dual chrome tailpipes, in the days of weedy engines and even weedier tailpipes on our 800’s & Omni’s, this was sheer sportiness personified for a kid not even in his teens!
For petrol heads in the making, like me, it was a dream come true in the days of Indian motoring to just be a witness to such cars, and get to touch and feel them amongst a sea of 800’s, Omni’s, and a smattering of Gypsy’s – with the rest of the population being made up by asthmatic Padmini’s and Ambassador’s. The rare glimpse of these incredible machines on our roads would make that ear-to-ear-smile last for a weekend.
I still vividly remember the first time in my life I saw a Porsche 911. Standing outside one of the very few Baskins Robbins’ outlets in the mid-90’s, I just watched, with my mouth agape, as a light blue 930 Targa passed me – with the owner of the car driving, and his son standing on the seat and enjoying the wind-in-his-hair experience through the open roof. It has just become one of those can-never-be-forgotten childhood memories.
Needless to say, the above incidents left me a fan of both the Honda and Porsche, so much so that I longed to own them (someday, I always told myself). So, when Honda launched the City in 1998, I was super excited, and a drive of the car only left me longing for more. Sure, the cars were basic with flimsy build quality and interiors, which were below par when compared to many of its competitors, but the sweet, smooth revving engines, and their decent performance, mainly due to the car’s light weight, meant that I just loved the car even more, and ignored its many foibles. That meant that I did get to own one for sure, and, as soon as I could, I bought the City VTEC and drove it extensively – covering around 200,000 kilometers in just 5 years! Needless to say, it was a car I loved driving immensely, and still, to this day, miss the high-revving engine, beautiful gearbox, and communicative steering.
During the initial 10-year period of their existence in the Indian market, Honda products were very attractive to customers because they were priced reasonably, were of a decent quality, and more importantly had bullet-proof reliability – this, combined with the pre-existing goodwill that Honda had in India meant that the cars sold faster than they could produce them, and, as a result, their dealers gathered a notorious reputation for not offering any discounts to the bargain hungry Indian consumers! This trend continued with the 2nd generation City, where Honda cut down on the performance, but raised both the quality and, more importantly, the fuel efficiency – while also reducing the price, making the car a sure-fire sales success. Similarly, the Accord did tremendously well, and was the sales leader in its segment for many years – credit goes to the car for creating an entry-level luxury segment in our market.
However, the past couple of years haven’t been so rosy for the brand, for multiple reasons – their luxury products, a.k.a. the Accord and CR-V have simply become too expensive to be good value. And, secondly, the competition has caught up with products like the Superb and X1 – offering the customers choices and cars, which are better equipped and better built. The case of the Civic isn’t much better either, which has now become long in the tooth. But, where it really suffers against the competition is the lack of a diesel engine. The one big ticket product that Honda hoped would give them a hefty increase in sales numbers was the Jazz, which was, and is, a good product – but a pricing strategy that positioned it at quite a premium above the competition meant that it was doomed for failure from day one.
The real trouble, however, has just begun for Honda. Their primary volume driver, the City, has of late taken a massive sales beating – to the extent that, for the first time in 10 years, the City is no longer the largest selling car in its segment. Primary factors are again the lack of a diesel engine – especially with frequent fuel price revisions, which are dissuading the customers from petrol driven cars, and also the fact that entrants like the VW Vento and Hyundai Verna make the City look under equipped for the money that the customer forks out. That is, and should be, a serious cause of concern for the company, which still has an as-good-as-gold reputation amongst consumers in the country. Despite this, however, none of their products are sales leaders. Sure, the Brio is a product that can revive their numbers, but again factors like pricing and diesel engines are something that’s still a big question mark.
Again, it’s not just India where Honda has its task cut out, even internationally the media and consumers have been ruing the lack of exciting products in the recent years – or the prospect of them in the near future. Where are the Type-R’s and the Integra’s with their high-output engines? Where are the oil burners to suit the markets of Europe and India? Where is the engineering driven focus that has driven Honda since inception? This is a company that sparked the Fast & Furious generation with just one of its models for heaven’s sake! This is the company that forced Ferrari & Porsche to pump up their game with the NSX, which was a better quality product than either of its competitors. And even though they’ve restarted development on a replacement for the NSX, there’s no sense of when it’ll hit the market, and whether or not it’ll be an out-and-out sports car like its predecessor or an elder brother to the hybrid pseudo sports car, the CR-Z.
Here’s a company that I’ve always admired, and it’s sad to see it losing focus and heading towards the woods, rather than the greens. I would personally like Honda to succeed again, and make exciting cars once more – I still want that Integra Type-R and NSX Type-R, but, with the current approach, the future prospects look bleak.
To be honest, in India, Honda is far from being past the point of no return – products like the Brio and a couple of diesel engines for their cars could still do wonders for the sales figures, but it requires a fresh approach and a complete revaluation of the company’s current strategy. The current approach seems to be dependent on Honda’s brand name being worthy enough to sell whatever they bring to the market – but I’m afraid that’s no longer the case in a fiercely competitive market like India.
Most of all though, I would like to see Honda make a product that would turn me into a 10-year old boy again – mouth agape in amazement and a serious desire to own the car. Only, unlike 2 decades ago, this time I can actually afford to buy it!
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