Japanese automobile manufacturer Honda Motor’s Indian subsidiary Honda Cars India (HCIL) will invest about $460m (INR25bn) in its Tapukara vehicle manufacturing plant in Rajasthan, India.
The investment will be used for the construction of a new assembly line for cars that would double the production capacity to 1,20,000 units per year as well as establish a new diesel engine component production line and a Forging unit.
The new assembly line and forging unit are scheduled to be commissioned within 2014, upon which the carmaker's overall production capacity at the plant would reach 240,000 units per year.
The diesel engine manufacturing facility would have a production capacity of 1,60,000 units per, the carmaker said.
Honda Motor Japan managing officer Yoshiyuki Matsumoto said over the next three years, HCIL will launch five important models including the Amaze.
"The Rajasthan plant will have an installed capacity of 120,000 cars per year and will be ready to roll out its first car next year," Matsumoto said.
Additionally, Honda has also unveiled its new 1.5L i-DTEC diesel engine, featuring Earth Dreams Technology, which will be equipped in the upcoming Amaze sedan.
Honda Cars India president and CEO Hironori Kanayama said the company is now set to expand its business in the country by entering the diesel segment with the all new Amaze scheduled to be launched on 11 April 2013.
"With addition of diesel power, the universe in which we operate will increase to around 50% of the total passenger vehicle market over the next few years," Kanayama said.
