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On April 16, Honda China launched a new electric brand, Ye, which will launch a total of six new cars in 2027. It is understood that the "Ye" brand series of models will be the first to carry a new car standard, and the products will be based on the all-exclusive structure of pure electric car Architecture W. Honda China brought three new cars at the press conference, namely, Ye GT Concept concept car, Ye S7 and Ye P7, of which Ye S7 and Ye P7 will be on the market this year, while Ye GT concept car will be mass produced in 2025.

The overall design of the Ye GT concept car is still very advanced, but because it is still a concept car, I do not know how many design elements will continue to the mass production car. From the overall design point of view, its front face using through-type light belt design, looks very scientific and technological sense, the newly designed H car logo represents the logo of the Ye brand. As for the interior, the overall design looks very fighting, and it also indicates that for more young consumers, the new car steering wheel, dashboard, center control screen and co-pilot screen are all interpreted in Honda style, supplemented by red interior style. it still looks very technological.

In addition to Ye GT concept car, Ye P7, Ye S7 also officially unveiled, these two models are actually sister models, there are Dongfeng Honda and Guangzhou Auto Honda mass production. From the design point of view, Ye S7 uses trigeminal LED daytime driving lights, and the front face is designed in trapezoidal style. The headlights and taillights of the Ye P7 are designed in type C, and the hexagonal mouth style is used under the front of the car. In general, Ye P7 maintains a sense of the future, more concise, Ye S7 lines are sharper, the shape is more bold. In terms of interior decoration, Ye P7, Ye S7 and Ye GT concept car have the same style, but are closer to mass production, and it is expected that the intelligent experience in the car will be significantly improved. In terms of power, both models will provide single motor and dual motor for consumers to choose from.

Honda China's launch of a new electric brand is very unexpected, before the launch of the brand almost did not lay the groundwork, of course, such an unexpected launch may also have a different effect. Judging from Honda's current new energy layout, Honda has launched the EVR N brand in the electric vehicle market, which is mass-produced by Dongfeng Honda and Guangzhou Auto Honda respectively. E:NP 1, e:NS 1 and e:NS 2 will be launched in the second half of the year. At the same time, Dongfeng Honda also launched its own brand, the rhinoceros, and the first model, the rhinoceros L, will also be available this year. According to the plan, after 2027, all Honda models launched in China will be hybrid and pure electric vehicles, and will no longer be launched with new pure fuel models. By 2035, Honda China will account for 100% of pure electric vehicle sales. This all-electric goal is five years ahead of Honda's global expectations.

Although Honda's electrification strategy in the Chinese market is very aggressive, its current achievements are particularly mediocre. At present, Honda has launched production in China of two pure electric models, the e:NS 1 and the e:NP 1, which are sister models, the former by Dongfeng Honda and the latter by Guangzhou Auto Honda, targeting the small pure electric SUV, but sales of the two models have been sluggish since their launch. In 2023, sales of e:NS 1 and e:NP 1 were 10562 and 4502 respectively.

Honda's position in the Chinese market is far more difficult than expected. Fuel cars are becoming more and more difficult to sell, but electric cars are hard to achieve. It is understood that Honda China's sales fell sharply after reaching a peak of 1.627 million vehicles in 2020, falling for the third year in a row. In the first quarter of this year, Honda sold 206900 vehicles in China, down 6.11% from a year earlier, with Guangzhou Auto Honda down 8.11% and Dongfeng Honda down 3.80%.

In the new energy era, China's consumer environment has changed, a distinct feature is that the main group of car buyers is getting younger. From the market point of view, the style of Japanese brands is relatively conservative, while domestic independent brands incubated in fierce competition often launch personalized bold designs to achieve differentiation, which is more in line with the car needs of young people. After the year of the Dragon, following the price reduction of BYD, Honda's Accord, Crown Road, style and other models also began to reduce prices to stimulate consumer desire, but consumers as a whole do not pay the bill, consumers still prefer to choose their own brands or new energy vehicles. The cold wave is still clinging to the flavor of spring, and the new war is continuing. From the current perspective, independent brands have taken the lead in some positions, and Honda, as an international well-known automobile brand, how to hold on to the Chinese market also needs Honda internal thinking.

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