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On February 4th, Honda China announced terminal car sales in January 2024. Data show that Honda's cumulative sales of terminal cars in China in January were 100960, compared with 157.3% in the same period (up 57.28% from a year earlier and down 39.11% from a month earlier). Subdivided into joint venture brands, GAC Honda terminal sales totaled 54081 vehicles, up 34.25% from the same period last year, while Dongfeng Honda terminal sales totaled 46879 vehicles, up 96.07% from the same period last year.

In terms of sales in January, Honda's sales in China grew by double digits year-on-year, but fell 39.11% from December 2023. Honda Chinese officials did not explain the decline in sales. Auto Industry concern believes that it may be related to the Spring Festival in January 2023, while this year's Spring Festival is in February. Sales generally decline due to the impact of the Spring Festival holiday.

At present, fuel vehicles are still the unshakable sales base of Honda in China. Officials say that in January 2024, monthly sales of the ACCORD exceeded 15000, the BREEZE and INTEGRA both exceeded 10,000, the CR-V sold more than 15000 and the CIVIC sold more than 10,000. In the pure electric car market, the official model sales have not been announced.

So far, Honda has deployed two pure electric models in the domestic market, but sales of the two models have remained depressed since they were launched. Take the 2023 retail sales data as an example, Honda sold 10562 e:NS1 vehicles and 4502 e:NP1 vehicles in 2023, both of which are a far cry from the current mainstream new energy vehicles.

It should be noted that with the strong rise of domestic new energy, the market share of Japanese brands, which lack popular style products, is constantly being squeezed in China. In this context, Honda China also began to accelerate the electrification transformation. Honda China has previously advanced the time point of "stopping the sale of fuel vehicles" from 2030 to 2027, that is, after 2027, all Honda models launched in China are hybrid and pure electric vehicles, no longer put into new pure fuel models; by 2035, Honda China will achieve 100% of pure electric vehicle sales. According to the specific joint venture, GAC Honda will no longer launch new pure fuel models from 2027, and all Honda models sold in China will be 100% electric from 2035. Dongfeng Honda will have more than 50% electrification by 2025, no more new fuel cars after 2027, and more than 10 pure electric models by 2030. In addition, in September 2023, Dongfeng Honda has launched a new independent pure electric brand, Lingzhi, which will have an independent brand LOGO, and the first model "Lingzhi L" concept car will be put into mass production in 2024.

Judging from the timing of Honda's transformation of new energy vehicles in China, it is confident in its radical electric vehicle planning. However, at present, Honda still has no products in the field of electrification. In 2023, a number of Honda models have added plug-in hybrid versions, such as Accord and CR-V, but like new energy vehicles, the terminal market has not achieved excellent performance.

Honda is scheduled to launch two e:NS2 and e:NP2 models this year, which are sister cars to each other. At present, Dongfeng Honda e:NS2 mass production version and Guangzhou Auto Honda e:NP2 mass production version have been officially launched at the 2023 Guangzhou Motor Show. The two models are based on Honda's exclusive intelligent and efficient pure electric architecture of Honda's pure electric vehicles, and are the second model of Honda's en Architecture series.

With the fierce competition in the car market, the differentiation and knockout stages of the car market are also accelerating. For today's Japanese joint venture car companies, in addition to accelerating the electric transformation, the declining market share of fuel vehicle sales is also a difficult problem that needs to be solved at present. Of course, Honda's shrinking market share in China is only a microcosm of Japanese brands in China, and the most fundamental reason for the decline in the market share of Japanese car companies is that the product upgrading is too slow and the introduction of new technology is too conservative.

Under the dual pressure of electric transformation and global market competition, whether Honda or other Japanese car companies want to gain market share in China, it is urgent to accelerate the introduction of electric products, but as a latecomer, even if the launch of new electric car products, the follow-up will also face a lot of competitive pressure.

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