Honda has identified India as the launch pad for its global small car which will debut during the next two to three years.

The vehicle is being developed for India specifically as the lead country. It will then enter other markets across the world, Mr Masahiro Takedagawa, President and CEO, Honda Siel Cars India, said here on Thursday.

This is part of the Japanese automakers strategy to create models for lead countries and then have them modified appropriately for other global markets. For instance, the Civic, Accord and CR-V were targeted at the US (as the lead country) while in the case of the City, it was the Asian market comprising India, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines.

The recently launched Jazz was developed with the lead market being Japan. Once we complete development of lead markets, we can have the cars modified for other global markets, he said. The global small car that will debut in India will be positioned below the Jazz which means that its size will not necessarily translate into an inexpensive offering. Price should be justified by value which, in turn, is determined by the customer, Mr Takedagawa said.

There were indications that the global small car scheduled to roll out in the next three years would be part of a bigger Honda business plan which included Brazil and Thailand. However, Mr Takedagawa said that there was no reason why it would not be considered for Europe either, which is increasingly turning to fuel-efficient models, and Japan.

Key regions
Honda has drawn up six key regions for its global markets which are the US, Japan, Europe, Asia, China and South America. It is up to the head of each region to consider a particular model from another. I do believe that the small car being planned will have the potential to get requests from many regions, he said.

Though the growth rate in cars has been less spectacular in comparison, Honda is comfortable with the fact that the Indian market is stable than most parts of the world, especially during the current slowdown. From our point of view, this indicates that the fundamentals are in shape across the country, including rural areas, he added.