Auto:Honda Pilot Could Be the Ultimate Family Car for 2016

We like to think we know the family-car shopper. Besides our diligence in checking just how well child-safety seats fit in new vehicles, we also happen to be a staff with a lot of kids of various ages at home. That's one of the reasons the redesigned 2016 Honda Pilot, unveiled at the 2015 Chicago Auto Show, is so interesting to us.

More 2015 Chicago Auto Show Coverage

To be a great family car — like the 2015 Hyundai Santa Fe, winner of Cars.com's Family Car of the Year — it needs to not only handle all the kids' wants and needs, but also take care of the adults. After all, it's important that Mom or Dad remain sane on even the shortest drives.

The little ones often come first, and theoretically they should. Honda thought of them first too. "The redesigned Pilot has easy-to-reach cupholders nearly everywhere you look, with double cupholders in the rear doors and next to the third row's outboard seats," said Jennifer Newman, assistant managing editor and mother of two. "In the Pilot with the optional captain's chairs, there's also another set of cupholders in the low center console covered with a nonslip material perfect for corralling toys and books."

2016 Honda Pilot First Look

Honda says the new Pilot will still be able to hold three car seats across the second row when equipped with the bench seat. "That, plus the fact that it's equipped with three top tether anchors in the third row should make it very attractive to large families," said Cars.com reviewer and mother of three Jennifer Geiger. 

As kids get older, carpooling means carting tweens and teens to after-school activities, sports practices and more. "I had no problem getting into the third row and had plenty of knee room and headroom back there with the second row in place," said Managing Editor David Thomas, who stands 5 feet 10 inches tall.

The second-row seats feature two buttons that easily fold and slide them forward. One is found on the side of the seat bottom, which you hit when getting into the Pilot's third row, and one is on the seatback that makes exiting the third row painless. "It doesn't get much easier than that," said Thomas, who's a father of two. The model in the pictures here is actually Cars.com Consumer Affairs Editor Kelsey Mays, who is about 6 feet tall.

The redesigned Pilot seems to have all the electronic gear to keep kids entertained on the road, at least on the top trim level on display at the auto show. "From a Blu-ray player with a drop-down screen to an HDMI port for a gaming console, there's plenty to keep kids of all ages busy on those never-ending road trips," Newman said. The Pilot also offers up to five USB ports, and four of them are powerful enough to charge iPads.

Parents get to sit in a rather comfy driver's seat with plenty of entertainment options for themselves, but they may find the storage spaces more valuable in day-to-day life.

The center console is quite big, and there are plenty of smaller cubbies too. "The old Pilot's center console was puny for such a large vehicle; this model's console is much bigger and can definitely hold a large purse," Geiger said. "Another cabin nicety is the pop-down conversation mirror — great for a quick checkup on the munchkins."

This full-size crossover's cargo capability also impressed us. "I'm a little unsure of the true cargo-floor height because the Pilot was on a raised platform at the show, but the hard-plastic cargo cover behind the third row is a nice touch, and there's a significant amount of under-floor storage too," Thomas said. The hard-plastic cargo cover can be moved to the bottom of the storage well, creating more cargo area for taller items and helping to corral grocery bags.

Car Info:'Small car segment has the best potential in India'

Honda Car India has emerged as the fastest growing company in an otherwise sluggish local passenger vehicle market. The successful recent launch of Amaze and the fourth generation City sedan has helped the company inch closer to the second spot in the Indian car market under the stewardship of President and CEO Hironori Kanayama. In an interview with ET’ Kanayama talks about the company’s growth plans and its strategy for maintaining the ‘premiumness’ of the Honda brand among the price conscious Indian customers.

 Honda moved from a complete petrol carmaker to diesel at a time when the Indian customers are moving back to petrol, with the price differential between the two fuels narrowing to the lowest. What is Honda's strategy in such a scenario?

We are focusing on achieving three lakh car sales by 2016-17. This target was set two years ago. It is correlated with Honda's global target of six million car sales in that timeframe. Thanks to the success of our new models, including the diesel version, we are almost in line with our target. The market situation has not been so good. There is a lot of discounting from competition, but in spite of that, our strong products and aggressive dealer network have helped in the continuous growth of the company in the Indian market, where we sold close to 1.5 lakh vehicles this fiscal. Now we have 217 dealerships. We will make it to 230 in 150 cities by the end of this March, then we plan increase it to 300 by end of March 2016, with a clear focus on smaller cities and towns. We have a production capacity of 2.4 lakh, with 1.2 lakh each at Greater Noida (UP) and Tapukara (Rajasthan) plants. Hopefully, we will be able to utilise full capacity this year.

How do you plan to bring Honda's worldwide standards to the price-sensitive Indian market?

It's a bigger challenge than it may sound. It's highly incompatible though the customers expect Honda to make it compatible in all its products. They expect 'premiumness' from Honda. We don't produce small and cheap cars. I think competiveness is sometimes bigger and that prompts us to keep improving We don't produce small and cheap cars. I think competiveness is sometimes bigger and that prompts us to keep improving in terms of cost and quality, quality and services by raising our own benchmarks.
Is Honda becoming a mass segment player? Going by the volumes you have achieved, are you trying to become another Suzuki in India?

Not at all. There are many questions, like 'do we (plan to) produce small engine than 1.5 diesel?' We don't. It doesn't make any sense to us. Customers expect something premier from Honda. We don't produce such small cars overseas. Though there is a plan to export from India to similar markets, which could be in Asia or Africa.

You are not making big cars in India anymore. You have already phased out Civic sedan, while the bigger Accord is out of production...

We are committed to this market and expect it to grow fast. In 1998, the passenger car market was only half a million but after 16 years, it's grown by as much as 46 times. In many markets, the Accord segment was bigger than Civic. The Indian market, once mature, is also expected to blend in a similar fashion. Like in China, with the market growth, the upper segment has grown very well. Same thing is expected to happen in India. As years pass by, there will be more demand for bigger cars and high growth in the upper segments.

What is your strategy for India, which is known mainly as a small car market?

In 1960, majority of the cars in Japan were 360cc. Now, who buys such cars? The Japanese market earlier was similar to the present Indian market. Cars were a status symbol and people wanted bigger cars, but they could not afford. As the economy grew, they opted for bigger cars. By 1980, most of the cars were sedan and hatchback, but after 1990, the market changed. People bought mini vans. Then, the market share of imported cars increased. But it has never reached more than 10%. Then people opted for bigger and expensive cars. Till the 1990, people were not spending too much. Today, they have started buying again. With the possibility of higher economic growth, people in India want to buy a large sedan and may be an SUV.

India's luxury car market has stagnated. Moreover, the Japanese and Korean carmakers have not been able to take on their German counterparts, who completely dominate the scene. In India, the mindset is 'value for money', even if a customer buys a Rs 35 lakh car. Where does Honda fit in that league?

When the time is right, we can start the production of Civic and Accord. The reason why we launched small cars like Brio and Amaze is the potential of the Indian market. If we just launch models like Civic, City or Accord, we could not be a big player in the market. Therefore, we started launching these models here. Premiumness of brand will not change. This premium status comes from the product and the sales experience at the dealership.

What's the status of your Gujarat plant?
We don't have any ready plans. Production capacity is easy, if we have time and money. Suppose, we make a production capacity of 1.5 lakh, if we don't have sufficient products to fill the production capacity, it's not good. Therefore, Honda decides the production capacity when they prepare the sales plan. We will plan and then decide when to have a plant.

What is the profit scenario for Honda?

Our target is to realise the profitability as early as possible. But it is based on currency fluctuation and other external factors. Most important is market growth. There are many expectations from the new budget and hopes of something positive in it for the automotive industry.

New Extended Warranty Scheme (7 years): Honda Cars India

Honda has announced a new extended warranty scheme in India. Named 'Any Time Warranty', this warranty scheme allows Honda owners to extend their warranty for seven years. Whereas in the standard extended warranty service, consumers can extend warranty for two years after purchase. To be able to avail this scheme, a car needs to be less than seven years old and should not have done 1,00,000kms. The extension in warranty is by 20,000/1 year.

Customers can avail this extended warranty a month before the expiry of the current warranty or the time frame of the first seven years of ownership. The Any Time Warranty scheme covers replacement or repair costs. That said, the warranty is offered only on parts found guilty which are covered under the scheme. The cost for Any Time Warranty will be different, which will be based on the model. The service provider will check few things like timely service records and the overall condition of the car.

We think this is a positive move from the Japanese carmaker, and it will surely help better ownership experience. The cars that come under Honda's new Any Time Warranty scheme are - City, Amaze, Mobilio, Brio and CR-V. Moreover, the scheme is also available on few discontinued cars including Civic, Accord and the Jazz.