Honda unveils 8th generation Accord for Indian Mkt

New Delhi, May 13: Honda Siel Cars India Ltd (HSCI) today launched its premium Eighth generation Honda Accord in the country priced at between 16.4 lakhs to 18.1 lakhs (ex-showroom) according to the different models.

''The models will be available in three types in both automatic and manual transmission- Accord 2.4, Accord 2.4 Elegance and Accord 2.4 Inspire,'' President and CEO (HSCI) Masahiro Takadagawa said. The model comes with 2.4 litre i-VTEC engine and meets Euro-IV emission levels with E-10 (10 per cent ethanol and 90 per cent unleaded petrol compatible).

The Accord 2.4 Manual Transmission (MT) is priced at 16.49 lakhs and Automatic Transmission (AT) at 17.24 lakhs, Accord 2.4 Elegance is priced at 16.79 lakhs (MT) and 17.54 lakhs (AT), while Accord 2.4 Inspire is priced at 17.39 lakhs (MT) and 18.14 lakhs (AT).

The Premium car segment in India is seeing a double digit growth and that is why, we will be launching our Civic Hybrid car in a month's time,'' Mr Takadagawa added.

Hybrid cars like the hybrid Civic and Toyota Prius use petrol and battery power alternately to make the best use of both. The selection of fuel is computer-controlled. The cars are highly fuel efficient and the battery is powered while the car is in motion. A combustion engine and an electric motor powered by battery alternately drive the car.

The company has also expanded its capacity to one lakhs unit at its Greater Noida plant.

"Our new plant in Neemrana (Rajasthan) will start manufacturing cars by the end of 2009, with an initial production capacity of 60,000 units per annum," Vice-president, Marketing (HSCI) Jnaneswar Sen said.

The company currently has around 80 dealers, and is targetting 100 dealers by the end of FY09, Mr Sen added.

UNI