COMPANIES ListPage

By Xie Fang

Dongfeng Honda, the Chinese affiliate of the Japanese automaker, Honda, articulated its latest brand strategy this Saturday, hoping to become more appealing to the country's younger generations, the 21st Business Herald reported Saturday night.

By publicizing the new slogan of "more technology, more fashion, more self-knowledge," the company is aimed at introducing consumers to a brand-new car-lifestyle featuring popular cutting-edging technologies.

According to Tatsuya Natsume, general manager of Dongfeng Honda, the company is scheduled to launch its latest car model named INSPIRE in October this year. With the application of several most advanced technologies, the model is expected to grab a share of the Chinese upscale car market as the company's flagship sedan.

The company also plans to launch a new electric car model next year.

In addition, the company announced its production goal of 1 million vehicles per year by 2023.

To that end, it plans to invest up to RMB 5.225 billion in the building of its third plant in China, which is expected to be put into operation in 2019 with an initial production capacity of 120,000 vehicles per year.

Despite this new brand strategy, the company's two most popular car models have been raising safety concerns in the Chinese market in recent months.

On July 9, the company decided to recall its Civic model produced between December 15, 2015 and May 17, 2018 for the dangerous rise of the level of the car's engine oil during the short-distance driving under sustained low temperatures. As a result, nearly 300,000 vehicles are estimated to be recalled.

Prior to the recall of the Honda Civic, the company had also recalled its CR-V model in late May, leading to a sharp year-on-year decline of 58.96 percent in the sales of CR-V during the first half of this year.