Honda Malaysia on track to hit 2017 target and retain top spot

Honda City 1.5 V facelift (2017) range-topping variant

PETALING JAYA: Honda Malaysia has so far achieved 35% of its 100,000-unit sales target for this year, thus being on track to maintain its No. 1 position in the non-national segment and No. 2 in overall total industry volume (TIV).

The automaker said in a statement that it had sold more than 34,500 vehicles in the first four months of 2017.

This was an increase of more than 9,800 units sold - 40% higher compared to the same period in 2016.

The target of 100,000 units represents about 9% jump over the sales of 91,830 units recorded last year.

“In terms of market share, Honda contributed 19.4% to the TIV as of March 2017, which was 5.1 points higher compared to the same period last year. Following the strong results from the two models launched in the first quarter, Honda Malaysia achieved an all-time high with a record of 20.5% market share for the very first time in March 2017,” the company said.

Honda Malaysia’s full 7-seater crossover, the All-New BR-V, has sold more than 7,800 units since its launch in January and contributed 23% to the current overall sales.

The New City, launched in March, also contributed 23% to total sales. Further elevating the B-segment benchmark, the New City’s value added C-segment features has kept the model at the top of the pack with more than 7,200 bookings since its launch. 

The 10th Generation Civic also grabbed pole position in the C-segment and has sold more than 15,700 units since its launch in June last year. Prior to the introduction of the 10th Generation Civic, the monthly sales in the overall market for C- Segment with Turbocharged engine was between 50 to 200 units.

Currently, the Turbo variant of the Civic alone is sold at an average of 840 units per month, which makes up to 60% of the total number of Civic sold.

“As promised, Honda Malaysia’s introduction of the Civic is truly a game-changer. Being the first Japanese mass market manufacturer to introduce a Turbocharged engine in the C-segment, this has led to a significant increase in popularity of Turbocharged engine,” it said. 

Other than the strong sales result, Honda Malaysia’s current selling models namely Jazz, HR-V, City, Civic and Accord have secured the top position in their respective segment as of March 2017. 

Honda Malaysia also announced that the waiting period for all Honda models was currently one to two months. “With the two production lines at Honda’s manufacturing plant, the company will be able to adjust production according to the demand and to ensure quality is not jeopardised,” it said. 

On a separate note, the company said that starting May 1, the HR-V and CR-V 2.0 2WD would reflect the new excise duty on-the-road (OTR) price with insurance due to re-classification under the new customs tariff code. The new pricing of HR-V will be starting from RM101,000 – RM121,000 while the new pricing of CR-V 2.0 2WD will be RM141,500.