India not yet ready for electric cars according to Honda Cars India CEO

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India not yet ready for electric cars according to Honda Cars India CEO. Honda's President and CEO in India has predicted that the impediment to the introduction of electric cars in India will be infrastructure as well as price.

Honda Cars said on Friday 26 May that India is not yet ready to have electric cars in large numbers due to the lack of necessary infrastructure and affordability factor.

Yoichiro Ueno, President and CEO of Honda Cars India has said:
"to anticipate a significant number of such cars plying on Indian roads is little early"

"Honda is developing electric cars. However, we believe it is too early for India to talk about electric vehicles. One thing is infrastructure. And secondly the car price will be more than double (when compared to ordinary car),"

"India is so price sensitive. So it looks difficult (for electric cars) and also the development of infrastructure in a country as large as India will take a lot of time,"

This comes in stark contrast to the announcement made by Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal that the country is looking to have an all-electric car fleet by 2030 with an express objective of lowering the fuel import bill and running cost of vehicles.

Despite what Honda said about India though, they recently announced that two third of its global sales will come from electric vehicles.

Honda is currently viewed as a premium brand but now are mulling over whether to changeover as a 'mass brand'.

The Japanese car maker said it has received over 30,000 bookings for its 'Honda City' since its launch this year in mid-February, and 16,000 for Honda WR-V since mid-March.

Honda has so far invested over Rs 8,000 crore in its Indian operations and is making profits.

It has two manufacturing facilities each at Greater Noida in Uttar Pradesh, and Tapukara in Rajasthan with a combined capacity of nearly 2.4 lakh units per annum.









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Justin Kavanagh
Justin Kavanagh is a recognised leader in automotive intelligence and vehicle data supply to the entire motor industry. He has almost 20 years experience in building systems from the ground up. As the Managing Director of Vehicle Management System, he understands the need and importance of trustworthy and reliable vehicle history and advice to both the trade and the public.
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