Honda Motor Co. may have cracked the formula for success in India: a diesel-powered compact sedan.
The Amaze, introduced in April, drove the automaker's sales to a record the following month and propelled Honda to third place among carmakers in Asia's third-biggest market from as low as No. 8 in 2011. After denting Maruti Suzuki India Ltd.'s sales of the bestselling Swift DZire subcompact in May and June, Honda is doubling capacity and planning more models, said Jnaneswar Sen, senior vice president for sales and marketing at Honda Cars India Ltd.
"We've never faced this happy situation," Sen said in an interview at the company's factory in Noida, near New Delhi. "We will grow fast and we are working towards becoming the most trusted brand in India."