Honda Malaysia targets 100,000 units, to introduce 4 new models

Honda Malaysia MD and CEO Katsuto Hayashi (right) and group vice president Akkbar Danial with the New City.

KUALA LUMPUR: Honda Malaysia is introducing four new models in 2017 as it targets to sell 100,000 units, bucking the challenging conventional thinking and expectations.

Honda Malaysia managing director and chief executive officer, Katsuto Hayashi said that despite most analysts predicting a cautious view, “we believe 2017 will have a positive outlook for the automotive industry and market sentiment will gradually improve in this region”.

He said that with a good strategy and strong challenging spirit, not only will the company achieve their 100,000 units sales target through exciting new models at great value for money but also continue to meet market expectations and achieve customer satisfaction in 2017.

He forecast the total industry vehicles (TIV) for 2017 to be 600,000 units of which Honda Malaysia has set the target of 100,000 units, up 8% from last year to maintain its market leadership position.

Recall that despite the challenging market environment of 2016, Honda Malaysia managed to buck the lacklustre trend.

The TIV for 2016 fell 13% year-on-year and dropped below the 600,000 mark for the first time in six years to 580,124 units. However, Honda Malaysia exceeded the set target to end 2016 with a sale of 91,830 units. 

“This remarkable achievement translated to a 15.8% market share, the second highest country market share in Honda automobile operations globally. 

“Locally, this percentage maintained Honda at its No.1 position in the non-national segment for two years consecutively, and propelled the company to No.2 position in the overall TIV for the first time in Malaysia,” he said.

Hayashi said for 2017, Honda Malaysia is looking at introducing four new models. 

In early January this year, the All-New BR-V was introduced into the Honda family to complete Honda’s line-up of utility vehicles, allowing wider choices for Malaysians. 

In this range, the CR-V is the pioneer of the SUV segment, offering a complete package of versatility and space while the HR-V launched in 2015 revolutionised the compact SUV segment. 

Last year, HR-V sold close to 25,000 units and became Honda Malaysia's second best-selling model in our line-up. 

“The newly launched All-New BR-V continues the momentum by offering a new proposition with its unique combination of 'styling of an SUV body and space of an MPV' to revitalise the seven-seater segment,” he said.

Also last year saw Honda Malaysia launch two new models – All-New Civic and the New Accord –  which were a game changer and an executive sedan for a higher target market respectively.

Both these models achieved No.1 sales and lead in their respective segment as of date.

The revolutionary 10th Generation Civic recorded an impressive 165% increase compared to Honda Malaysia 2015 sales of the same model, and became the market leader in its segment with 68% market share within six months of its launch. 

Meanwhile, the Accord which has always been the flagship model of Honda Malaysia ended the year at the top of its segment with close to 2,400 units sold.