A report from Nikkei Asia confirms that Honda has outsourced vehicle platform development to Tata Technologies, a subsidiary of the Indian conglomerate Tata Group. This is understood to be a cost-saving measure from the Japanese automaker, which suffered heavy losses from its canceled EV program earlier this year.
Tata Technologies’ engineering and information technology expertise will be put to work on a new vehicle platform for models destined for global markets. This platform is expected to support various powertrains, including HEVs. Nikkei Asia clarifies that vehicles built on the Tata-engineered platform are not headed for the North American market, which could signify a distinction from the hybrid concepts showcased by Honda a few months ago.
Honda has traditionally developed its vehicle platforms in-house, and this partnership with Tata is the first of its kind in the Japanese carmaker’s history. India is a key market for Honda alongside Japan and North America, as seen by the brand’s decision to stage the Honda City facelift’s global debut in the country.
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Other manufacturers have also turned to India for cheaper and localized vehicle development, as seen with the Nissan Tekton unveiled last month. Billed by Nissan as “made in India, for India,” the Tekton competes in the highly popular sporty subcompact crossover segment in the country. Suzuki is another automaker with deep ties to India, with the Suzuki Fronx being primarily engineered and exported by its subsidiary Maruti Suzuki India.
Down the line, it’s possible that Honda models built on an India-developed platform could make their way to the Philippine market. This could come in the way of all-new generations of Honda’s global models like the City and the BR-V. Unfortunately, it remains to be seen if this will address Honda’s high prices—a common pain point cited when cross-shopping current Hondas against segment rivals.
The Honda-Tata partnership is currently in its initial stages, and neither party has made a formal announcement as of writing.
