Japanese subsidiary of premium vehicles maker Honda Cars India (HCIL) has said that it will not let out its Greater Noida factory to any third-party for contract manufacturing and added that the company will only utilise it in future for production.

The company had shifted its production to Tapukara (Rajasthan) plant in 2020, after halting the 23-year old Greater Noida plant. There were reports about the company giving out the Greater Noida plant to another vehicle manufacturer for contract manufacturing, in the recent years.

“We don’t have discussion with anybody...the plant is still maintained and we check the machineries every week. The factory is still functional and based on the future plans we will utilise...we cannot share the details yet, but Honda only will be utilising the plant. The headquarters (Japan) will be taking a final call,” Takuya Tsumura, President and Chief Executive Officer, told businessline.

Three new SUVs

He also said that Honda will launch three new sports utility vehicles (SUVs) by 2026-27 fiscal year, both in hybrid and battery electric powertrains, to compete in the growing market of SUVs in India. The SUV segment accounts for over 50 per cent of the total vehicles sales in India which is close to 40 lakh units a year.

Between April and October this year, the utility vehicle sales stood at 15,69,297 units out of the total passenger vehicles sales of 24,26,250 units as per Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers .

Currently HCIL sells just one SUV model -- Elevate -- in India with two sedans, Amaze and City.

New Amaze

Meanwhile, the company on Wednesday launched its all-new third generation Amaze, price ranging at Rs.7,99,900 – Rs.10,89,900 (ex-showroom, Delhi), and valid till 45 days from launch.

Powered by an E20 compliant 1.2L 4 Cylinder i-VTEC SOHC petrol engine, the all-new Amaze is available with both CVT and 5-speed MT options, the company said adding that the CVT option would have a mileage of 19.46 km/l, while the 5MT has 18.65 km/l (both under test conditions).

While the manual transmission (MT) variant is priced between Rs.7,99,900 and Rs.9,69,900, the CVT is priced at Rs.9,19,900 to Rs.10,89,900. The new Amaze has features such as advanced-driver assistance systems technology in the upper trims, while it is offering six airbags as standard across variants.

Since its first launch in 2013, Amaze has over 5.8 lakh customers spread across the country, Tsumura added.