Has Honda Mobilio come to a final stop in India?

Japanese carmaker Honda's Mobilio MPV has reportedly been axed from the line-up in India after the sales of the model fell below expectations. Emerging reports suggest that Honda has stopped the sales of the Mobilio and the inventory of the MPV has also been cleared.

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Honda is currently evaluating the feasibility of bringing to the Indian market the new model of the Mobilio, which is currently being sold in countries like Indonesia. Honda Cars India president and CEO Yoichiro Ueno told the Press Trust of India that the upcoming safety norms are a concern since the current model of the Mobilio does not conform to them.

"There are new safety regulations coming from this year. The current Mobilio does not conform to regulations. So in order to continue to sell the vehicle we need to put in lot of investment or modification of the model," PTI quoted Yoichiro Ueno as saying.

Honda is expected to take a call on bringing the new model of the Mobilio to India in two months. The carmaker did not sell even a single unit of the Mobilio in India last year. The sales of the Mobilio in January stood at 63 units. The MPV, which was part of Honda's portfolio since 2014, has never raised the bar in its segment and Honda sold a total of 40,789 units of the Mobilio in the country.

The Mobilio was developed at Honda's R&D facility in Bangkok exclusively for the Asian markets. In India, the Mobilio was competing against Renault Lodgy and Maruti Ertiga. Under the hood, Honda Mobilio packed a 1.5-litre i-DTEC diesel engine or a 1.5-litre i-VTEC petrol engine.