Honda returns to mid-SUV segment
Honda Cars India, the local unit of the Japanese automaker, on Monday launched its mid-sized sport utility vehicle (SUV) Elevate, marking its return to the popular SUV sub-segment in the country. The starting ex-showroom price for this model is ₹11 lakh, and the top-end variant is priced at ₹16 lakh.
The SUV, which will compete with South Korean rivals like the Hyundai Creta and Kia’s Seltos, along with recent Japanese entrants like Suzuki’s Grand Vitara and Toyota’s Hyryder, is priced at a slight premium to its competition at the entry level, but offers a substantial cost advantage in the automatic CVT transmission and top-end variants. Hyundai’s Creta, which leads the segment, is priced starting at ₹10.87 lakh at the entry level and goes up all the way to ₹19.20 lakh at the top end.
The Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara, on the other hand, is priced from ₹10.7 lakh to nearly ₹20 lakh at the top end for its strong hybrid variant. “The mid-sized SUV segment is the most crowded passenger vehicle segment.
The size of the segment is about 70,000 units a month, but the volume is spread over 20 different models. So we had to package the Elevate very well, especially since we were introducing an SUV after a long time—the pricing of the product, along with ensuring we are providing safety features, checking off the exterior and expectations customers have in terms of looks, features and drivability.
We are trying to ensure that customers should not feel that it is not an accessible car in any way," said Kunal Behl, vice-president of marketing and sales at Honda Cars India. “Our feedback said customers feel Honda cars are very good to drive, but they are very expensive, so we took that feedback on board when we introduced this
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