AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)10/10 Report--

On October 10, Honda China announced terminal car sales in September and January-September 2024. Data show that Honda's terminal car sales in China in September were 62586, down 42.93 per cent from a year earlier, the third consecutive month of Honda's decline of more than 40 per cent in China. However, Honda China did not disclose September sales of two joint ventures, Guangzhou Auto Honda and Dongfeng Honda. From January to September this year, Honda's cumulative sales of terminal cars in China were 588018, compared with 70.7% in the same period, or 29.27% lower than the same period last year.

In fact, Honda's sales in China have fallen for many months since the start of 2024. Honda's sales in China rose 57.28% in January from a year earlier, and then fell by double digits from February to August compared with the same period last year, down 38.63%, 26.32%, 22.18%, 34.66%, 39.04%, 41.4% and 44.29%, respectively, that is to say, Honda has seen an eight-month year-on-year decline in China since February.

"the lack of sales of fuel cars and the weakness of electric cars" is one of the key reasons for Honda's continued decline in sales in China. According to August retail data, Honda sold more than 10,000 models in China in August, while Honda CV-R and Accord sold 12105 and 10374 vehicles respectively, while Accord, CR-V and Haoying often sold more than 20, 000 vehicles.

In the pure tram sector, Honda's market performance in China is also not satisfactory. So far, Honda has four e:NS1/e:NS2/e:NP1/e:NP2 models in China, but the sense of market presence is not high. Retail sales figures show that August sales of e:NP2, e:NS2, e:NP1 and e:NS1 were 341,169,101,11 respectively.

With the decline of fuel model sales, Honda is implementing capacity optimization in China and accelerating the electrification transformation. In July, Honda announced that it would close two joint venture plants in China. GAC Honda plans to close its fourth production line with an annual capacity of 50, 000 units in October 2024, while Dongfeng Honda plans to close its second production line with an annual capacity of 240000 units in November 2024. After the adjustment, Honda's total car production capacity in China has increased from 1.49 million to 1.2 million. In addition, Honda plans to make up for capacity cuts through two new electric car plants under construction, which are expected to restore capacity to 1.44 million vehicles.

At the same time, Honda is accelerating the launch of electric vehicle products in China. On Sept. 26, Lingzhi L, a new compact car owned by Dongfeng Honda, launched only one model with a price of 129800 yuan. As a new model, the new car uses a new brand LOGO, powered by pure electric drive, and mainly competes with BYD Qin PLUS, Changan Qiyuan A07, Dongfeng eπ 007, Eian AION S and other models in the car market. The previous April, Honda China launched a new electric brand, Ye. Its Ye S7 and Ye P7 will be mass-produced by Dongfeng Honda and Guangzhou Auto Honda respectively in 2024, and the brand will launch a total of six new cars by 2027.

On Oct. 9, Honda also announced the launch of "Honda 0 Tech Meeting 2024" and released a new generation of technology solutions and latest achievements in the "Honda 0" series of plans. It is understood that the new global pure electric vehicle "Honda 0" series will be launched to the global market in 2026. As a new pure electric vehicle, the "Honda 0" series will be built from scratch based on the three new pure electric vehicle R & D ideas of "Thin, Light, and Wise (thin, lightweight, smart)". According to the plan, the new car series will first be unveiled at the CES 2025 in January 2025.

According to the original plan, Honda China will achieve more than 50% electrification by 2025, no new fuel cars will be launched after 2027, and more than 10 pure electric models will be launched by 2030. However, according to the latest media reports, Honda CEO Minhong told investors at the company's Technology Day: "Honda's plan to build an electric car plant around the world has some flexibility and can adjust its strategy if the market moves unexpectedly." It is also mentioned that the construction of some battery production lines may be delayed.

Although Honda's pace in the electrified transformation is not slow, judging from Honda's current performance in China, its sales are not optimistic. Of course, Honda's current situation is not alone, including Toyota and Nissan's sales in China have also declined. Today, Nissan China also released the latest sales figures. Nissan's sales in China, including passenger vehicles and light commercial vehicles, were 61395 in September, down 3.8 per cent from a year earlier, according to data. Of this total, Dongfeng Nissan, which includes Nissan, Qichen and Infiniti brands, sold 57741 vehicles, down 5.8 per cent from a year earlier. From January to September this year, Nissan's cumulative sales in China, including passenger vehicles and light commercial vehicles, were 496998, down 9.10% from a year earlier.

With the sharp decline of fuel vehicle market share and the continuous improvement of the competitiveness of new energy independent brands, the share of Japanese joint venture brands in China is gradually being carved up. From 2021 to 2023, the market share of Japanese cars was 22.6%, 20% and 17% respectively, showing a downward trend year by year, while it fell to 14.9% in the first half of this year, according to the Federation of passengers.

Today, the situation of "not worrying about selling" and "lying down and winning" of joint venture brands is gone, especially Japanese joint venture brands. at the same time, the transformation of joint venture brands has entered a critical period, and there will not be much time left for the transformation of joint venture car companies. Industry insiders believe that if Japanese brands want to stay in the Chinese market, they must make rapid innovations and qualitative changes in the field of electric vehicles.

Welcome to subscribe to the WeChat public account "Automotive Industry Focus" to get the first-hand insider information on the automotive industry and talk about things in the automotive circle. Welcome to break the news! WeChat ID autoWechat