Can Honda get its mojo back? | Deep Drive Podcast Ep. 18 | Autocar India

Honda might be one of the most loved carmakers in India but sales are down and it seems to have lost its Midas touch. Hormazd Sorabjee - Editor, Autocar India - and Ketan Thakkar - Editor, Autocar Professional - discuss Honda's heyday, the present line-up and what's to come in this episode of the Autocar Deep Drive Podcast powered by Kotak Mahindra Prime.

Producer: Nikhil Bhatia
Editor: Deven Bhalla
Archives: Shrey Vaid, Lincon Rodrigues, Ganesh Jadhav
Graphics: Rohit Kesarkar, Yuvraj Dhurmekar

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Chapters -
0:00 - Introduction
1:50 - Honda and the City
8:55 - Missing trends
11:20 - Honda's engineering
12:07 - Diesel dilemma
13:35 - Brio platform was sub-par
14:45 - Why Honda engineers don't like SUVs
16:19 - Chasing volume
21:30 - Leadership churn
23:35 - India-specific models
24:25 - CKD and premium models
26:50 - Honda is more complex than Toyota
27:23 - Honda Elevate
32:07 - Exports is big business
34:43 - EVs and new PF2 platform
37:50 - Keeping the fanbase happy
40:45 - Shrinking portfolio
41:42 - India as a base for PF2

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[autocarindia]

Chapters -
0:00 - Introduction
1:50 - Honda and the City
8:55 - Missing trends
11:20 - Honda's engineering
12:07 - Diesel dilemma
13:35 - Brio platform was sub-par
14:45 - Why Honda engineers don't like SUVs
16:19 - Chasing volume
21:30 - Leadership churn
23:35 - India-specific models
24:25 - CKD and premium models
26:50 - Honda is more complex than Toyota
27:23 - Honda Elevate
32:07 - Exports is big business
34:43 - EVs and new PF2 platform
37:50 - Keeping the fanbase happy
40:45 - Shrinking portfolio
41:42 - India as a base for PF2

[bzrt]

Indian Honda customers love Honda more than the company itself does. A truer statement has never been spoken. - A loyal Honda customer

[souravagrawal]

This podcast is a benchmark in the auto related podcast in India. These guys are not just sitting there spilling out bro science but are the OG auto journalists of the Indian car market. I love to hear them and know so much about the indian car market.

[bonmec]

Hormazd has entire autocar editions in his head. Thanks for taking me down the memory lane. I felt like I opened the old autocar magazines from 2000s and read it now.
Since 6th grade I used to buy autocar every month riding on my bike for almost 3kms. I went on to later become an automotive engineer, worked in Germany but the aspiration started from there I think.

[mavericksohel]

Wow! I wish Honda were watching this discussion. Eight years back I chose Brio over Alto and I never regretted the decision. A gap of 50k between the two proved worth bet on Brio (base variant). The paint quality of Honda cars I've found best compared to the competition. The chassis of Brio stays planted and the drive inspires confidence. Despite all its cons: its shape, being bootless, dull dashboard, featureless, but the moment you push the pedal, you forget all the cons...mine has clocked 61k with no complaint at all, only a brake switch went caput which I replaced for 1k and a left door switch which I replaced for 600 rs in open market...the car is as it was the day it was brought eight years back...no lag in gears, no lag in steering which is a delight and light clutch adds to the charm...it's a driving pleasure....I have the 4th generation city in my garage as well...but Brio is the rabbit 🐇 of my garage which I don't want to part with...going to change its stock tires this fall...honda customers want to drive honda alone...it's difficult for us to migrate to Hyundai, Suzuki or Toyota's...we want to remain honda because our cars hold us tight ....what shall we do?

[RockyT-i]

16:11 "Indian Honda owners love honda more sometimes than the company does because they haven't put their whole heart into it" Absolutely true💯
Honda owners still love their cars still the company isn't putting their 100% efforts on taking indian market seriously..

[jishnurishi]

One thing we missed to discuss is about the underrated and most practical hatchback, the 2 generations of Honda Jazz we got here in India

[psg]

Sir it was 98 that I first met you at the autoexpo. The Autoindia stall was in the open & a Ford GT was on display. I shook hands with you & noticed you were such a humble & sweet person. Seeing you today in the podcast, you look the same as 26 years before...

[SRGjr]

Honda City always is the best Car in the segment which is best in safety and reliability and styling . My 2013 honda city has covered over 4.2 lakhs of kilometres and still no issues with the engine, the most reliable car in the segment

[ds]

We have owned 3 Hondas in our household, a Honda City 1st Generation Facelift (2002 model), a Honda Civic (2006) and a Honda City Diesel (2014), they were highly desirable cars which were also very reliable and we had great service experience with them as well, on par with Maruti and Hyundai, but off late the company is on extreme downward trajectory, the latest City was boring inside out, quality levels are still at 2008 levels when the City used to sell for 8 Lakhs, there is no Turbo Petrol and NA engine from 20 years ago just doesn't cut it anymore, the Elevate is even more dull and boring. The company needs enthusiasm and great products, Hyundai was a joke in front of them 20 years ago and the new Verna we purchased recently makes the City look like a joke when it comes to Performance of the Turbo, excellent design and quality of the interiors and outstanding NVH of both the engine and otherwise the car as well. Honda can do way better than this.

[jasnoormac]

So true. That customer loves Honda more than the company itself. I've been owning Honda cars past 15yrs. It's sad seeing the Honda portfolio slunk.

[Ashwin-zgrt]

Barring Suzuki, other Japanese brands (Mitsubishi, Nissan, Honda, Toyota) are not serious about India. All of them have a very rich product line abroad and they dont seem to be expanding their portfolio sufficiently in India. Toyota is simply piggybacking Maruti and rebadging its products. Such a shame!

[patrick_]

As a proud owner of a 2010 Accord V6 3.5 & a past proud owner of the 2008, 2011, 2018 Honda City 1.5 (all 1.5 L), I can only say I am deeply saddened by what's happened to Honda . My accord V6 is now 14 years old with 120, 000 kms on the odometer and I swear it's still stunning & shits on shitbox 4 pot diesels or petrols from Mercedes or bmw. Honda should have never discontinued the 3.5. It's not just Honda, Japan on the whole has lost the plot since 2010-2012. Will the real JAPAN please stand up. You have more friends and fans in india than probably JAPAN itself. What the elevate needs is a 1.5 turbo or a 1.8 NA engine with a manual or 6 Spd TC transmission. The current transmission is a joke with its rubber bandy nonsense. Congratulations HONDA and the rest for going backwards .

[anuptejasvi]

Man o man !! This podcast just poured my heart out …. Over a lakh kms on city 2016 and still running with no issues …

5 months of searching SuV segment for my parents and keep circling back to Elevate … if Honda could work on electronics some more … I would have loved to pay a premium and settle for Honda then going to other players .

I have so many experiences with my Honda city that I come eventually to trust my car no matter what … Honda does have a fan base who love Honda so much more than Honda management itself … hope they are hearing !!

[vlarvind]

Was a 15 year old kid when I read the first 1999 sep release of autocar India … Mr. Sorabjee you arnt alone in feeling “old”… those were the days where one would read through the magazine in a days time, gawk at the pics for the next ten days & anxiously await the next issue for the next 20 days 😃

[paulm.k.]

I put my trust in “Honda”, went ahead and bought an Elevate.😊. Hope my decision proves to be right.

[mahernoz]

Almost all Parsi Bawaji's favorite car is a Honda, we Bawa's will love Honda being once again on Top. Great Talk once again by Autocar India.

[abhijeetmh]

@autocarindia1, I'm owner of Honda city fifth gen, and I purchased it only for rear seat comfort which is unmatched in SUV. But after driving for close to two years, on bumpy roads, I feel uncomfortable and can't drive it fearlessly. The tyres are so thin that while driving on bumpy road, I got both right side tyers punctured at same time. City is only for plush roads and not for Indian roads. Also the cabin makes lot of rattling noise inside and not much to say about NVH levels which are on higher side.

Appreciate if we can have similar podcast on Tata
.

[SMB_]

Honda hybrids were one of the 1st. However, my friend who’s driving enthusiast informed me that Maruti is coming with very high efficiency SUV with hybrid engine.
I replied him that the technology is from Toyota and secondly, Honda is having way back with City hybrid.
This is what the publicity Maruti has.
Elevate would have been launched with Hybrid tech.
Very good discussion. Thanks 👍

[AbhishekSinghDev]

I am planning to buy Honda elevate in a week. Fingers crossed for the future of Honda in India.