Honda City exports commence to left-hand drive markets

The fifth-gen Honda City, in left-hand drive configuration, is now being exported from India to the Middle East. The left-hand drive models are being produced at Honda’s Tapukara facility, with initial batches being shipped out from Pipavav port in Gujarat and Ennore port in Chennai.

• Exports to right-hand drive markets commenced in August 2020
• Produced alongside right-hand drive model at Tapukara facility

In a first for the Japanese carmaker, this marks the beginning of production of left-hand-drive models in India for exports and reaffirms its commitment to the government’s ‘Make in India’ initiative. The carmaker has been exporting the new right-hand drive City to South Africa since August 2020, and the neighbouring countries of Nepal and Bhutan from October 2020.

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 carmaker has been exporting models including Amaze, WR-V and City to 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.

Honda India

Coming to Honda Cars India’s domestic operations, the brand announced the shutdown of production at its Greater Noida plant late last year owing to the inability to fully utilise its production capacity due to a fall in demand. Honda also subsequently pulled the plug on the slow selling Civic and CR-V in the country.

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.