I think everyone knows the story of the sleeping beauty “a beautiful princess who gets cursed by an evil witch as she was jealous of the princess beauty and put her to sleep in a faraway castle, only the kiss from a true lover can wake up the beautiful princess from her external sleep”.
Now lets get to Honda who is this beautiful princess sleeping in Indian car market for the past 3 decades but I really don’t know who was that evil witch responsible for the curse on Honda in India.
Honda “The Legacy”
Honda is an automobile behemoth from two wheelers to cars. Even in aviation industry Honda has achieved a remarkable position through years of R&D and innovation. Honda has an undefeatable presence even in motor sports.
Credits to Mr.Soichiro Honda, the self taught mechanical engineer who started Honda engineering works in a small workshop in Japan during 1930s after getting rejected by Toyota for a job. Today Honda’s engine powers everything from cars, boats, motorcycles to generators, you name it Honda has its presence in it.
Honda Outside India
Honda is responsible for 40% of the Global 2-Wheeler sales and in cars Honda has 10% market share in US and 20% in its own Japanese market. In Europe and south american countries Honda has close to 3% to 5% share. Most importantly in hybrid tech, Honda stands second in the world after Toyota. Honda sells close to a million hybrid cars globally but only two (City hydrid/ ZR-V) has reached India so far.
Honda’s Hybrid Tech
Honda sells two type of Hybrid globally,
1. e-HEV – standalone
2. e-PHEV – plugin
The i-MMD (multi-mode drive) with an e-CVT technology is the pioneer powertrain mode used in all Honda hybrids which is very efficient and reliable. But this technology is yet to reach Indian roads.
Honda Inside India
When it comes to India, Honda is the beautiful princess who sleeps. Let’s discuss it in elaborate. Below are the cars that were discontinued by Honda India.
List of Discontinued Honda Cars in India
- Honda Jazz : Premium hatchback discontinued in 2023 due to the BS6 Phase 2 emission transition.
- Honda WR-V : Crossover/hatchback discontinued in 2023 alongside the Jazz as part of product portfolio shifts.
- Honda City (4th Generation) : Phased out in 2022–2023 to make room for newer generations.
- Honda Civic : Executive/premium sedan discontinued in 2020 following the closure of Honda’s Greater Noida manufacturing plant.
- Honda CR-V : Luxury SUV discontinued in 2020 due to high import/CKD pricing and weak demand.
- Honda BR-V : 7-seater crossover discontinued in 2020 due to low sales and stricter emission updates.
- Honda Brio : Discontinued in 2019 due to low sales, shifting consumer demand toward larger vehicles, and upcoming safety and emission regulations.
Out of all the above cars, discontinuing Brio and Jazz was the most ruthless decision ever taken by Honda. While more than 50% of car sales in India is driven by first time car buyers, Honda neglecting an entry level hatchback in it’s lineup is a high level of market negligence. Some will argue that the Amaze is the entry level ticket for Honda but an average middle income family will always prefer a hatchback over a compact sedan any day.
But Honda’s Japanese counterparts Suzuki and Toyota are flourishing in India even after phasing out diesel powertrains. Maybe it’s time for Honda to hijack some of the marketing talents from those two Japanese giants.
Recently Honda Cars’ Indian market share has slipped to 1% in September 2026 which is alarming and also Honda is close to becoming the next Ford like exit in India. Even the recently facelifted Elevate was a disappointment with no hybrid tech, just the same decades old 1.5 litre ivetc petrol engine with a boring CVT giving below average mileage figures. Even the loyal Honda fans are getting porched by brands like MG and Renault who have already introduced their hybrid tech in India at a reasonable price. Some small brands are ready to take the risk but a behemoth like Honda is still sleeping.
Honda City e-HEV and the overpriced Honda ZR-V are never going to wake up Honda from it’s sleep in India, since they are irrelevant for the market and the competition now has better cost effective products like Renault Duster hybrid and MG Tomahawk PHEV. Honda just needs a product like Magnite which brought Nissan out of its coma in India. If you can’t beat them then its better to follow them. Honda should follow the Nissian play book and build a compact SUV at a reasonable cost targeting the first time car buyers similar to Magnite.
Will Honda Wake up from its Curse?
Recently Honda outsourced its 1.2 litre engine development to Tata for its upcoming CR-V SUV. There are speculations that it might be a turbo petrol powertrain not a hybrid. Being an automobile worm I feel sad for Honda. A giant known for its superior engine tech globally is just outsourcing the same in India to third party, this shows the survival instinct of Honda in India market.
Unless Honda cracks the value of mid income car buyers that is first time car buyers in India, Honda will never bounce back. Launching overpriced e-HEV cars in CBU route will never benefit Honda and will also never gain market share.
Honda should launch – a series hybrid (similar to global Suzuki Fronx hybrid) in the form of a hatchback or a compact SUV under Rs 15 Lakh on road price tag. Honda has the resources and R&D talent pool to do it, but Honda is hesitant and wants a risk free strategy. So we can say that this curse is self inflicted by Honda on itself with inefficient management of resources when it comes to India. Even european brands have started to localise most of their components to reduce cost but Honda still imports majority of its components which will obviously increase the manufacturing cost. At the end of the day, will Honda survive the Indian market? As an automobile enthusiast I want a legacy brand like Honda to stay in India but only time can tell us.
At a2zreviews.in, thus we have given you the insights of why a legacy brand like Honda is yet to spread its wings in India and it’s market approach in India. We are a community dedicated for automobile enthusiasts we are not sponsored or supported by any brand or company. Kindly request you to support us by sharing our content.
