Less than a week ago, a report popped up that said Honda Cars India Ltd. (HCIL) had shut the production facility at Greater Noida. The company has officially confirmed that development today. It also acknowledged that the step had been taken to improve business efficiency, which will help maintain the sustainability of operations in the country. Greater Noida’s premises will continue to house the carmaker’s head office, India R&D centre and spare parts operations including warehouse.

The closure of one manufacturing facility directly impacts the operations in the other. Honda’s plant in Tapukara, near Alwar, Rajasthan, can produce 1.8 lakh cars every year. But, will the company modify the facility to accommodate the production of vehicles which were being built in Uttar Pradesh? Well, it has already shifted the manufacturing line for the City. Sadly, that’s not the case for the Civic and CR-V. What does that mean? According to the same source, which revealed the plant’s shutting a few days ago, Honda has stopped producing both those models. In other words, they’ve been axed.

It was in March 2019 when Honda reintroduced the Civic nameplate in India. That means its innings less than two years. As for the CR-V, that was launched in October 2018. Honda had to discontinue the diesel variants of both those models in April 2020 as they did not comply with the stricter Bharat Stage 6 (BS6) emission norms. In July, however, Honda brought back the Civic diesel. With those models gone, HCIL’s portfolio has shrunken down to four models – City, Amaze, Jazz and WR-V.

Although Honda has refrained from making investments in altering the Tapukara plant, it will continue to invest in new product developments. Honda has a compact SUV in the pipeline. But, courtesy of COVID-19, it has been delayed. Next year, we could also see the introduction of the refreshed Amaze.

Story source: ETAuto