The fifth-gen Honda City has been on sale in India for about six months now. The Japanese carmaker has now announced that the made-in-India fifth-gen Honda City in left-hand drive configuration is now being exported from India to the middle east. These left-hand drive Honda City's are being produced at the carmaker's Tapukara facility, with initial batches being shipped out from Pipavav port in Gujarat and Ennore port in Chennai.
This is in fact a first for Honda in India. This marks the beginning of production of left-hand-drive models in India for exports and it also reaffirms the brand's commitment to the government’s ‘Make in India’ initiative. Honda has been exporting the right-hand drive models of the new City to South Africa since August 2020 and neighboring countries of Nepal and Bhutan from October 2020.
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Speaking on the announcement, Gaku Nakanishi, president and CEO, Honda Cars India said,
“Honda City has been the benchmark of sedans in India and addition of exports of its left-hand drive model to completely new destinations is a great opportunity for us to strengthen our India business. We have invested in creating an expansive world-class manufacturing facility at Tapukara which can produce both right-hand and left-hand drive models that allows us to manage demand for domestic and international consumers.”
The made-in-India fifth-gen Honda City will now be exported to as many as 12 left-hand drive markets across the world. Honda has been exporting models such as the Amaze, the WR-V and the right-hand drive City to countries such as Nepal, Bhutan, South Africa and SADC countries. The export of 5th Generation Honda City (both right-hand and left-hand drive) is the newest addition to the export business from India.
As for Honda's domestic operations in India, the company recently had to shut production at their Greater Noida plant. The facility was not being utilized to its full capacity owing to less demand. This also saw Honda pulling the plug on the Civic and the CR-V in India. Honda currently has a single manufacturing facility in the country at Tapukara in Rajasthan where it manufacturers models such as the Honda Jazz, WR-V, Amaze and the City for the domestic market as well as for exports.
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