INTERVIEW
Honda: Taking the gap in compact sedan market
Denis Droppa caught up with Honda Motor Southern Africa’s president, Toshiaki Konaka, at the recent launch in SA of the Honda Amaze small sedan
The small-sedan market is quite limited. Is it worthwhile launching a car such as the Amaze, with such small volumes? A: The first-generation Amaze sold more than 250,000 units worldwide and the second-generation car has broken sales records since being launched in India earlier in 2018. With the new Amaze we can reach a wider range of customers. The compact sedan market is not big, we admit, but we expect the Amaze to be one of our volume models. The recent discontinuation of the Polo Vivo sedan leaves 55% market share up for grabs in a segment that sold more than 12,000 units in SA in 2017. Q: Honda recently started introducing turbocharged petrol engines including a 1.5T in the Civic and CR-V, and a 2.0T in the Civic Type R. Following the industry trend, can we expect turbos with a smaller capacity from Honda in place of its normally aspirated engines? A: A 1l turbo is available in Europe, but at the moment we don’t have plans to introduce it in SA. It is a more expensive engine....
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