Honda thrives in China’s slumping car market as its Civic, CR-V models prove popular with mainland consumers

Dongfeng Honda Automobile, the Japanese carmaker’s mainland joint venture, believes there are opportunities to be tapped in China’s slowing market

The carmaker will launch a range of new models covering petrol, electric and hybrids

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Employees work on the production line at Dongfeng Honda’ factory in Wuhan, Hubei province. Photo: AFP

Published: 10:16am, 29 Nov 2019Updated: 10:30pm, 29 Nov 2019

Dongfeng Honda Automobile, one of the few winners in China’s car industry this year, said it would launch at least five new models next year as it bets on a turnaround in the world’s largest vehicle market.

The 50-50 joint venture between Japanese carmaker Honda Motor and its Chinese partner Dongfeng Motor Group said that the new models would include conventional petrol engine cars, pure electric vehicles and hybrids, without elaborating.

“We believe that opportunities arise in nuclear winter,” said Zheng Chunkai, executive vice-manager of Dongfeng Honda. “We want to inspire ourselves to achieve a higher goal [in 2020].”

The Wuhan-based carmaker sold 640,000 units between January and October, up 23.3 per cent year on year.

A Dongfeng Honda employee works on the Civic production line at the carmaker’s factory in Wuhan, Hubei province. Photo: AFP

Honda’s new models, including subcompact Civic and compact SUV CR-V, have seen strong sales growth this year after the joint-venture put its third factory in operation in April, which has an annual capacity of 240,000 units.