Honda Siel Cars India unveiled its second hatchback Brio on Tuesday, aiming to challenge

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bigger players such as Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai with the competitively priced model.

The company has priced the 1.2-litre Brio between Rs 3.95 lakh and Rs 5.1 lakh (ex-showroom, New Delhi). It will compete with rivals Maruti Ritz, Hyundai i10, Toyota Etios Liva, Ford Figo and Chevrolet Beat.

“Brio may be our smallest car, but it represents global Honda’s biggest commitment to our customers in India. We would also look at exporting the car to Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Sri Lanka at a later stage,” said Takashi Nagai, president and CEO, Honda Siel Cars India.

The company declined to reveal the sales target for the car, indicating that it depends on customer demand. Deliveries for Brio would start on October 10. “We have achieved the price of the car through 80 per cent localisation that will increase to over 90 per cent in the next few months,” Nagai added.

Though Honda has been witnessing a slowdown in sales this year, its other compact models Jazz and City have gone into waiting periods of six months and one month respectively due to huge price cuts. Honda Siel’s sales fell 13 per cent at 19,433 cars between April and August this year, against 22,224 units sold in year-ago period. The situation appears to be no different with Brio that is likely to run into waiting period owing to company’s flow of components that slowed down in the aftermath of the tsunami in Japan.

The carmaker sees normal output of 10,000 units per month (against current production of 5,000 units per month) post November this year. Honda maintains that it is ‘profitable’ with the Brio and the company is making profits despite price cuts affected on Honda Jazz and City.

“While there is tilt towards diesel cars in the market, we are confident about maintaining low cost for the Brio especially through its fuel-efficiency. We think people will buy this car because of its striking presence, not just because of petrol or diesel,” said Jnaneswar Sen, senior vice-president (marketing and sales), Honda Siel Cars India. The car returns 18.4 kilometres per litre, according to the company. Sen also refuted apprehensions of a cannibalisation of Brio by the company’s premium hatchback Jazz whose base variant costs Rs 5.5 lakh.