Honda Motor Co Ltd will launch 10 additional car models in China by 2015 and expects to double sales in the country since last year’s level over the same period, a Senior Executive said Tuesday.
The cast would consist of new and updated models, including some focused China small cars, Seiji Kuraishi, head of Honda’s China operations, told reporters in Beijing.
Honda New Models, Strong Development 2012
No. 3 car maker in Japan also plans to start selling two models of its high-end line Acura in China this year and will begin to produce electric vehicles by the end of the year at Guangqi Honda, a joint venture with Guangzhou Automobile Group co. Ltd., he added.
Honda also makes cars in China in partnership with Dongfeng Motor Group Co Ltd. two joint ventures have an annual capacity to 720,000 vehicles.
The 2012 Best Honda Looks
Honda is looking to China’s car market, the world’s largest, to help recover after the car maker has been buffeted by natural disasters in Japan and Thailand last year, which caused its global production of descent from a fifth of 2.91 million cars.
The Chinese market is growing more slowly after Beijing scrapped incentives for small cars last year. Overall sales rose 5.2% in the last year, the slower pace, given that Chinese culture is taken off at the end of this century.
In January, Guangqi Honda said it was targeting 10% growth in turnover in 2012 after last year’s figures were affected by the earthquake in Japan and floods in Thailand, according to local media. Guangqi Honda sales target of more than 400,000 vehicles this year, up from 362,000 in 2011.