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On February 26th, Dongfeng Honda announced its new product plan for 2024. Dongfeng Honda will launch three new pure electric models this year, including the e:NS2 model in June, the L model in September and the new SUV in December. In addition, the mid-term version of the Civic will also be launched in December.

Under the layout of a number of new cars, Dongfeng Honda reiterated that by 2025, 50% of Dongfeng Honda will no longer put fuel vehicles into operation in 2027, and more than 10 pure electric models will be launched in 2030.

It is understood that Dongfeng Honda e:NS2 and Guangzhou Automotive Honda e:NP2 are sister cars to each other, 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 ERV N series. The new car was launched at the 2023 Guangzhou Motor Show on November 17 last year. Dongfeng Honda e:NS2 and Guangzhou Automobile Honda e:NP2 both adopt sharp blade style and sharp moving line design, with a sharp and straight waistline extending from the front to the rear, and a hatchback design for the rear door. On the power side, the new car will be equipped with a magnetic synchronous motor, but officials have not yet released detailed power parameters.

Retail data show that Dongfeng Honda sold 10562 e:NS1 vehicles in 2023 and Guangzhou Auto Honda e:NP1 4502 vehicles.

In order to reverse the decline, Honda China has made substantial adjustments to the original "electrified transformation plan". In addition to launching the second model of the ePUR N series, Dongfeng Honda also launched a new independent pure electric brand-Lingzhi. In September 2023, Dongfeng Honda launched the new new energy vehicle brand "Lingzhi", which is also the first new energy brand launched by a Japanese brand in the Chinese market for the Chinese market, and the first model "Lingzhi L" concept car was unveiled around the world.

"Lingzhi" brand has a new LOGO logo, its products will be based on the new pure electricity platform production, product positioning, target users, market pricing and so on are significantly different from the e:NS pure electricity brand. Among them, "Lingzhi L" will be the brand's first model, positioning car model. At that time, Dongfeng Honda said the car was "dominated by young people and designed for young people". It was the first new energy concept car designed by Dongfeng Honda led by a young team.

In fact, Dongfeng Honda has been relatively "radical" in its electrified targets. As early as last July, Dongfeng Honda announced in a high profile that the proportion of electrification would reach more than 50% by 2025, no new fuel cars would be launched after 2027, and more than 10 pure electric models would be launched by 2030. But despite many changes made by Dongfeng Honda, its sales are inevitably in decline. For the whole of 2023, Honda's cumulative sales in China were 1234181 vehicles, down 10.12% from a year earlier, according to the data. Among them, Dongfeng Honda fell 4.90% to 613712 vehicles compared with the same period last year. Of course, Dongfeng Honda is not the only joint venture brand in China that has seen a decline in sales. For the whole of 2023, Guangzhou Auto Honda also fell 13.91% year-on-year to 620469 vehicles.

Under the background of the shrinking fuel vehicle market and the strong rise of domestic new energy, it is a consensus in the automobile industry that Japanese brands such as Honda, Toyota and Nissan are having a hard time in China. Retail sales of mainstream joint venture brands in China were 670000 vehicles in January, up 43 per cent from a year earlier and down 15 per cent from a month earlier, according to the Federation. Among them, the retail share of Japanese brands is 16.7%. The reason for the decline in sales of Japanese brands is that in addition to the slow upgrading of products and the conservative introduction of new technology, what is more important is the lack of pure electricity popular style products.

In terms of the timing of Honda's transformation of new energy vehicles in China, it is still confident in its radical electric vehicle planning, but Honda still has no products to come up with in the field of electrification.

The auto industry is undergoing a drastic transition to intelligence and electrification, while Honda is in a difficult transition stage. After the launch of three new pure electric models this year, it will take more time and the market to verify whether Dongfeng Honda can turn against the wind.

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