Made-in-India Honda Elevate is going to Japan: Will become biggest export market for Honda India

The arrival of the Honda ElevateSUV seems to be having the intended effect on Honda Cars India Ltd’s sales numbers as the Japanese carmaker recorded 2.27 percent growth from 6,836 cars to 8,191 cars sold in November 2023 alone. The Elevate has entered the highly competitive mid-sized SUV market a little late but also undercuts the competition in terms of offering the convenience of a CVT automatic and ADAS safety functions at more affordable price points.The effect can be seen in the demand graph of the Elevate SUV itself.
Elevate hits the right note:
In a recent conversation with TOI Auto, Takuya Tsumura, President and CEO, Honda Cars India Limited (HCIL), said, “While we expected higher demand of the manual variants of the Elevate, based on initial demand, the breakup currently is between 60-70 percent for the CVT automatic and the rest for the manual. Maybe the proportion between manual and CVT would gradually change but we will have to see. One thing driving the demand for the CVT is that our competitors are not offering any CVT or automatic at our price point and that is why customers are preferring us.”

With supply chain issues smoothened out over the last couple of years, HCIL is currently producing cars in full swing, putting out 660 units every day. However, Tsumura did express concern over the awareness of Honda’s latest SUV. He said, “The awareness of our new model is still not perfect, some people have still asked me what that car is. I think we need to do more active marketing and raise awareness about the Elevate.”
First ‘Made-in-India’ Honda to be exported to Japan:
However, the biggest disclosure that Tsumura made to TOI Auto, was that the Elevate would soon be exported to Japan. This will be a major milestone as it would make the Elevate the first made-in-India product to be exported to Japan. HCIL currently exports Honda cars to Turkey, Mexico, South Africa and the Gulf countries but Tsumura is confident that when exports to Japan begin, it will outshadow all other countries to which Honda India exports its cars to.

“I think we are producing a great model here in India and Japan has no plans to produce the Elevate, so we are shipping these cars. The import taxes in Japan are also not so high so we can easily export from here and sell there and that is why Honda Japan decided to take these cars from us. However, the Elevate will be called the WR-V in Japan.” Tsumura told TOI Auto.
Honda Japan has already announced the Elevate as the WR-V and showcased the model on their website, Tsumura says the response has been favourable and that the first batch of SUV will be exported by the end of 2023, before going on sale around March 2024 during springtime.

Five new cars incoming by 2030:
In terms of upcoming launches, Tsumura confirmed to TOI Auto that the carmaker is working on bringing five new models by 2030. Out of these, there will be hybrid models, a Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) and three other new SUVs as well. While the BEV is expected to launch by 2026, Tsumura did point out, “I think it will be very hard to achieve 30 percent EV penetration by 2030, as the government aims to do. I think half of that, around 15 percent is more realistically achievable. However, we will have a clearer picture by 2025 when most OEMs will start launching BEVs, as then we will get to see how the market reacts.”