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After long period, Honda able to produce a diesel engine in the Indian market. Prior to the time when petrol prices were raised, Honda was the only choice for premium car buyers and no one came into its way. But recently the scenario has changed drastically bringing diesel cars more into the limelight.
Honda has been hit hard by the transition and now they are focusing on brining diesel engines in India. As an alternative for the time being, Honda came up with Honda Brio small car but again it could not fill the gap created by the lack of diesel options.
At the Tokyo Motor Show, Honda has revealed something very interesting. Obviously it is a diesel engine, a brand new 1.6 Liter turbocharged four cylinder diesel unit which takes its development inspiration from the 2.2 Liter i-DTEC. The same can produce 118 BHP @ 4000 RPM of peak power and 300 Nm @ 2000 RPM of peak torque. Another interesting fact is that at 170 kg the engine is claimed to be the lightest in its class.
Now along with diesel engine options the company is concentrating on small cars as well and recently Chief Officer (Development Operations), and Honda R&D Co (Automobile R&D Center) Managing Officer, Yasuhisa Arai said, “We are aware of the petrol price increase in India but we consider that as a sign of growth in the Indian market… definitely we are currently developing diesel engine cars.” “(Indian) market is asking for more diesel engine cars and we are fully aware of that.”
In context with the Indian market Yasuhisa Arai said added, “We had developed Brio (compact car) for India, since we see limited opportunities for large size vehicles, our emphasis is on small compact cars for India.” At this point Japan, US, and China are the three biggest markets (for Honda). In my opinion India is the top growth market and I believe India will soon overtake China. Definitely India will be our emphasis.”
Posted in: Automobile Review
