With the advent of electrification, the automotive industry, which has a history of more than 100 years, is now undergoing disruptive changes. At the same time, factors such as the global chip shortage and repeated epidemics in 2021 have also brought greater challenges to the automotive industry, and Dongfeng Honda, which has gone through 18 years of spring and autumn, will inevitably be affected, and actively respond as much as possible by adjusting the production rhythm and optimizing business processes to alleviate the pressure caused by multiple difficulties.
Year-end sales are fluctuating The performance of the main models is still strong
In the past year, Dongfeng Honda, which has accumulated more than 6.85 million users, has been greatly affected. According to the official data, Dongfeng Honda's annual sales in 2021 were 793,272 vehicles, although there was a gap from the performance of more than 850,000 vehicles in the same period of the past year, but its products still had a brilliant performance, especially in electrified models. It is reported that the annual sales of the Dongfeng Honda electrification family reached 137,341 units in 2021, an increase of 47% over 2020.
In terms of specific model performance, although the two main models Civic and CR-V continued to perform well in the market, they still declined to varying degrees compared with 2020. The Mid-Year Iterative Civic sold 166,127 units in 2021; the CR-V became the 2021 joint venture SUV sales champion, with a total of 222,325 units sold throughout the year; and the small SUV Dongfeng Honda XR-V market feedback continued to rise, with 191,417 units sold in 2021, becoming the 2021 joint venture small SUV sales champion.
Eleventh Generation Civic Leads New Products Lay the Foundation for Future Market Performance
In terms of new products, Dongfeng Honda has successively launched CR-V PHEV, Eleventh Generation Civic, Yingshipai, XR-V Black Edition, Alexand and many other new models in 2021, the most important of which is the iteration of Civic. The Civic has been innovating for ten generations and has won the love of more than 27 million car owners in more than 170 countries around the world. The Civic, which dongfeng Honda put into production, has also been in China for 15 years since it entered China in 2006 and has so far gained the favor of nearly 1.8 million Chinese users.
On September 24, 2021, Honda's first model in China equipped with Honda CONNECT 3.0, Dongfeng Honda's 11th Generation Civic, was officially launched. A total of 6 models of new cars were launched, and the market guidance price was 129,900 yuan - 163,900 yuan. The 11th Generation Civic brings a new driving experience with a completely new aesthetic design, fully optimized power performance and comprehensively upgraded intelligent technology.
Another model worth paying attention to is the Dongfeng Honda Alissen after the major overhaul. At the end of 2021, the new Elegance model was officially launched, and a total of 4 models with different configurations were launched, and the official guidance price was 279,800 yuan to 331,800 yuan. The new car has undergone more than 40 upgrades and evolutions in terms of appearance, interior, technology, etc., bringing users a refreshing feeling, and the product performance is more in line with the needs of today's consumers, and it is also more youthful.
In 2021, we will enter the era of hybrid 2.0 and "pure electricity" will gradually land
In 2021, Dongfeng Honda also made new breakthroughs in the field of electrification. Dongfeng Honda released the "Looking at the Future" new energy brand strategic plan at the 2018 Guangzhou Auto Show, officially opening the historical curtain of Dongfeng Honda's new energy development. In 2019, the hybrid family composed of CR-V, INSPIRE and Alexand was completed, becoming the first hybrid family in the industry to cover the entire "SUV + sedan + MPV" series.
On February 2, 2021, Honda's first PHEV model in China, the CR-V Sharp Hybrid e+, was officially launched. The listing of CR-V Sharp Hybrid e+ makes Dongfeng Honda CR-V the first urban SUV covering three power systems of "fuel, hybrid and plug-in hybrid", further consolidating the market benchmarking position of CR-V, and also boosting Dongfeng Honda to enter the hybrid 2.0 era of oil-electric hybrid and plug-in hybrid.
In terms of pure electric, on October 21, 2021, Dongfeng Honda and Honda's first pure electric model in China, e:NS1, appeared at the Wuhan Auto Show, highlighting the brand's attitude and determination to fully embrace electrification. The design language of avant-garde sports can not only attract the attention of young people, but also e:NS1 is equipped with a 15.2-inch large-size central control screen and Honda SENSING 360 intelligent driver assistance system and Honda CONNECT interconnection system, which can meet the needs of Chinese consumers for intelligence.
e: NS1 takes the lead dongfeng Honda 2022 or introduce these new products
The first to bear the brunt is naturally the debut e:NS1 that has already been completed in Wuhan, the base camp of Dongfeng Honda. Dongfeng Honda plans to launch a number of new pure electric vehicle brand e:N models in the next five years to build a pure electric product matrix. Driven by the electrification strategy, Dongfeng Honda will also accelerate the introduction and production of electric models, and the e:NS1 is their latest achievement.
At the same time, the Dongfeng Honda XR-V may usher in a replacement in 2022. As a reference, the new generation of hr-V, the overseas version of its prototype, has made breakthrough adjustments in the appearance design, using Honda's latest design style, and the overall appearance is more tough. At the same time, the new car will also be differentiated design adjustments for ordinary fuel versions and hybrid models to better improve recognition.
The interior adopts a "T" shaped center console, and the overall design is relatively simple. The floating central control screen has a new car-machine system built into it, which supports Apple CarPlay and Android Auto interconnection; the air outlet adopts a hidden design and extends to both sides of the center console. At the same time, the space inside the car has also been improved compared to the previous generation. As for power, Honda offers a different power form for the new generation HR-V, providing an e-HEV hybrid system consisting of a 1.5-liter i-VTEC engine and a 1.5-liter i-VTEC engine + electric motor.
In addition, new products such as the new generation of Honda CR-V, the eleventh generation Of Civic Hybrid Edition and the Inspai PHEV, and the import of a new generation of Civic TYPE R are expected to meet consumers in 2022.
Written in the end: In the face of the general trend of the industry as a whole to electrification, Dongfeng Honda takes the external presentation of product electrification and the digitalization of marketing as the core advantage, and fully promotes the process of product electrification, marketing digitalization and brand warmth. At the same time, electrification is the mainstream trend of the development of the industry, Dongfeng Honda has long been fully accelerating the layout of electrification, e: NS1 is the landing of Dongfeng Honda electrification. It can be said that Dongfeng Honda's market performance in 2021 did not meet expectations, but we can also see that the "strength" of its new products is really not small, with the gradual ramp up of production capacity of new models in the future and the launch of more new products, sales performance is expected to return to the right track.
(Photo/Article By Zhang Hazy)