Honda Mobilio MPV not in production for the past 10 months in India

Honda Mobilio MPV, a slow-selling model of the Japanese carmaker's Indian portfolio, has not been in production for the past 10 months according to a data supplied by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers.

Not a single unit of the Mobilio MPV has rolled out of Honda's Indian plant since the end of November 2015 due to the severely crippled demand, Business Standard reported. Despite the lacklustre sales, Honda Car India has already stated that it has no plans to withdraw the Mobilio from sales.

It looks like the arrival of Honda's BR-V SUV further nailed the coffin of the Mobilio. The BR-V rests on the same platform used by the Mobilio and a lot of parts are shared between the two models. This drove many Mobilio buyers to the new BR-V.

Honda sold only 261 units of the Mobilio in September 2016 in India. In August, Mobilio sales stood at just 290 units. The number in the previous months goes as follows -- 137 units in July, 140 units in June, 126 units in May, 374 unit in April. The numbers for March, February and January were 610, 226 and 441, respectively. This, in comparison to the sales of other models Honda such as the City and the Amaze, is far lower.

There were reports that Honda plans to employ Mobilio in the commercial segment with huge discounts, stripping some of the premium features. There is no update on this development so far from the company.

Under the hood, Honda Mobilio packs a 1.5-litre i-DTEC diesel engine or a 1.5-litre i-VTEC petrol engine. The diesel engine will be a favourite for the commercial fleet segment, and delivers 99bhp at 3,600rpm and maximum torque of 200Nm at 1,750rpm mated to five-speed manual transmission.