Asia Bizz: Till now Honda was the brand which kept itself away from the diesel market, but now the Japanese auto giant Honda Motors is all set to enter the diesel market in India with its compact car Brio.
At present, the Japanese car maker is testing its diesel technology – common rail i-DTEC on the Brio. The company can introduce it on a 1.2 litre version.
The Brio was launched in the Indian market in September 2011 and was priced at Rs. 3.95 lakhs. The hatchback has a 1.2 litre i-VTEC petrol engine, which has the capacity to churn out maximum power of 88bhp along with a mileage of 18.4 kmpl.
With the launch of the diesel version of the hatchback, it can be expected that the sales chart may rise despite the late entry in the diesel market. The demand for diesel cars in India have gone up by 26 % due to the rising prices of petrol. In the recent times, the prices of the City and compact Jazz have gone through a price cut due to the dip in the sales. The price of the City was cut twice this year, due to which the value of the cars in the city has depreciated.
