Honda cannot just bet on Brio to win back India

Malini Goyal, ET Bureau

As car launches go, it was neither wildly extravagant , nor unique. After all, launches are de rigueur in the run-up to the festive season, and Honda Siel's brand new baby, the 3.95-lakh Brio, was just one of four cars to hit Indian roads in the past 10 days. Yet, Brio is not just a car launch.

Brio's price was just one factor. Honda Siel, to be sure, never before aspired to be a volume player; it much preferred its association with status and luxury. (Honda has 99.9% stake in this company, the rest belongs to Siel.) But that was not all. There were significant departures from the Honda model - test drives for the media, in Vizag of all places, the focus on developing dealer network in Tier-II and Tier-III cities, the thrust on local sourcing, not just assembling . Says Seki Inaba, director (sales and marketing), Honda Siel Cars India: "We are betting on India to be the No. 1 car market in the world, ahead of China, in the future. Brio is the first step towards a shifting growth trajectory for us in India."

It is rare to see Honda on the backfoot. From the 1990s till recently, Honda's cars, led by the Honda City, commanded a premium and enjoyed long waiting lists. This enviable consumer pull was at work in the used car market too, and Honda cars commanded the best value. But over the past two years, Honda has found itself at the crossroads. Weighed down by its global woes, poor pricing strategy, which many call brand arrogance, and a lack of focus on India, the brand posted flat sales. Meanwhile , aggressive rivals such as Volkswagen and Ford have upped the ante in India.

So, the Brio is the down-but-far-from-out company's attempt to regain lost ground. For the first time, the company is trying out the aggressive pricing strategy for size and enter the volume segment of compact cars, which comprise over 60% of the Indian car market. Whether the move will pay off remains to be seen, but as Mohit Arora, executive director, JD Power and Associates , a global marketing information services firm, puts it, "This brings Honda back in the reckoning in India."

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Peanuts on planes

Peanuts on planes protected by law

The government can't make policies about peanuts on planes without more scientific study.

Last year, the Department of Transportation asked the public about a possible peanut ban on planes and other measures it said it was considering to address severe allergies among fliers.

It presented three options for debate: a complete ban on serving peanuts on planes, a ban on serving them when a passenger requests a peanut-free flight in advance, or a requirement for peanut-free buffer zones around severely allergic passengers who make advance requests.

The agency also solicited public input on health risks and the idea of maintaining current practice.But when the new rules concerning issues from airline fees and bumping to tarmac delays were announced Wednesday, the department said it won't take on the peanut issue because of a 12-year-old law blocking the agency from tampering with peanut policy without more scientific study.

"The Department is prohibited by law from restricting the serving of peanuts aboard aircraft unless a peer-reviewed study determines that serving of peanuts causes severe reactions among airline passengers. There has been no such peer-reviewed study, so we declined to take action at this time," it said in a statement.
It seems the agency was hoping the climate was right for change. It cited the law in the original proposal in June when it asked the public to weigh in, adding, "this specific congressional ban on our involvement in this issue has not appeared recently in any legislation" before outlining possible alternate peanut policies for airlines.

The department said Wednesday that it wasn't proposing regulations but wanted to give the public an opportunity to comment on whether a peer-reviewed study should be conducted.

Although the government can't impose peanut restrictions for airlines, some carriers have developed their own policies for allergy sufferers. Some no longer serve peanuts and may create peanut-free buffer zones. But Delta, American and other airlines note on their websites that they can't guarantee peanut-free flights.
That lack of certainty had allergy sufferers and parents with children with peanut allergies weighing in enthusiastically in support of a national policy banning peanuts on planes.

"My 6 year old has severe peanut and tree nut allergies and I am very fearful to put him on a plane," Donna Marie Noga wrote in a comment posted on regulations.gov, a site tracking federal rules, proposed rules and public comments.

More than 2,100 comments were logged in response to all of the passenger protections presented, "the vast majority of which were related to the proposal to address peanut allergies in air travel," according to a Department of Transportation summary of comments.

Most of the comments on peanuts were from consumers who favored a total ban, according to agency documents. Peanut trade groups were against a ban, as were some airlines and airline industry groups.
But it seems the agency was out of bounds with its peanut planning.

Less than three weeks after the department posted its policy considerations in June, it issued a clarification citing the 1999 law with the conclusion, "we will comply with this requirement."

The final rule issued Wednesday echoes that sentiment. So, no relief for peanut allergy sufferers in this round of passenger protections.

The final rule announced Wednesday is available at the regulations.gov website, docket DOT-OST-2010-0140.
Packets of peanuts are in no danger of disappearing completely from airplanes. In a nutshell, there's a law protecting them.