Indian Autos Blog has learned that Honda Cars India is shipping the first lot of Honda Amazes to Nepal for a month-end launch. Company sources said less than 100 units, in petrol variants, were being sent to the neighbouring country. Nepal is Honda's first export market for the Amaze.
The Amaze is powered by a 1.2L i-VTEC petrol engine that outputs 88PS @ 6,000 RPM and 109Nm @ 4,500 RPM. Fuel efficiency for the 5-speed manual variant is 18 kmpl while the 5-speed AT variant returns 15.5 kmpl. The same specifications would apply to the Nepalese Amaze.
Honda is also studying the South African market for selling the India-made Amaze. It began exporting cars to South Africa last year with the Brio and should have acquired some knowledge of the local tastes. The Amaze could be a good partner to the little hatch and help in building up volumes of the Brio platform. Volkswagen and Toyota have used the Polo platform and the Etios platform respectively to get to the top of the South African car market with hatchback and sedan top-hats.
Unlike Ford or Maruti, Honda is a strong believer in local sourcing and production. It would prefer setting up plants in regions where it sells cars than intensively importing vehicles from other countries. However this doesn't mean Honda would setup plants in Nepal or Zimbabwe as the minimum volume to justify the investment on a manufacturing facility may not yet be reached in these countries.
