In terms of Japanese brands, it can be described as two days of ice and fire, here Toyota just announced that it earned 234.1 billion yuan last year, and here, Honda's sales have fallen to the point where they can't bear to look at it directly.
In April 2024, Honda's terminal vehicle sales in China were 73,831 units, down 22.18% year-on-year. Among them, Guangqi Honda was 33,510 units, down 44.61% year-on-year; Dongfeng Honda was 40,321 units, down 17.28% year-on-year;
In the May car purchase activity, Guangqi Honda not only provided a replacement subsidy of 11,000 yuan, but also gave an additional car purchase subsidy of up to 40,000 yuan, with a total discount of up to 51,000 yuan, but can this help Guangqi Honda stop the decline in sales?
"One Japan Field, Kakubu Honda"!
“Vtec is best”！
"Buy an engine and get a car"!
This is the slogan we often heard on the Internet in previous years, in the era of fuel vehicles, Honda's product strength is really outstanding, especially the engine's research and development strength is really strong, you say its power meat, whether it is 2.4L naturally aspirated, or later 1.5T engine, whether it is Civic, Accord or Fit, it is not particularly meaty, but its fuel economy is extremely good, unlike Toyota sacrificing power performance in exchange for fuel economy, Honda's fuel car, it has indeed been done, and the acceleration is smooth, excellent response, and fuel efficient.
Relying on excellent performance, fuel economy and stability, it is indeed normal for Honda to be favored by domestic consumers in the era of fuel vehicles, and in this regard, we must admit that Honda is excellent, but nowadays, everything has changed.
Few people talk about Honda's VTEC anymore, and few people say "Honda for one, Honda for life", which seems silly in today's Internet age. Because the biggest advantage of Honda cars, the internal combustion engine, is no longer popular in this era, and it is replaced by an electric motor and battery.
Judging from the current trend, the "degradation" of the internal combustion engine into a range extender and a hybrid-specific engine has become unstoppable. At present, the gasoline internal combustion engine with the highest thermal efficiency only reaches about 45% thermal efficiency, and the efficiency of the motor can easily reach 95%, the efficiency is not the most critical, the most critical thing is that the driving quality of the motor is much stronger than the internal combustion engine and gearbox. Take the comparison between the Honda Accord and the BYD seal, the Accord's 1.5T engine is fuel-efficient, can it have hybrid fuel-efficient? And the power performance has been completely exploded.
Honda, on the other hand, has been struggling and hesitating in its electrification transformation, with sales of 94 units in March this year, the e:NP1 Extreme 1, the first production car of the Guangqi Honda e:NP brand. e: It is still unknown whether NP2 will improve. The design of the e:NS1 and e:NP1 is not difficult to see that they are the fuel-to-electric models of the Binzhi, but Honda has been advertising that it uses a pure electric platform. It is obviously unrealistic to expect these two cars to support Honda's new energy market.
In July 2023, Honda China announced that it will electrify more than 50% by 2025, no new gasoline vehicles will be launched after 2027, and more than 10 pure electric models will be launched by 2030. On April 16, at the launch of Honda's new electric brand in China with the theme of "Inspiring Authenticity", "Ye" appeared as the protagonist. Three new models of the "Ye" brand, "Ye S7", "Ye P7" and "Ye GT CONCEPT", made their world premieres.
The new brand "Ye" is dominated by the Chinese side, and the "Ye" brand is aimed at the Chinese market, using a newly developed rear-wheel drive and all-wheel drive platform, which is a new platform for the next generation of electric vehicles: the intelligent and efficient pure electric "W" architecture. It is certain that some GAC's technology will be used, this step is right, Honda itself does not have any technical accumulation in pure electricity, it is better to count on GAC's side, but the pricing is still a problem, if you set a self-esteemed very high price like Pole, the "Ye" brand is estimated to have a high probability of overturning.
China's automotive industry rolls up a new horizon, not only in terms of price, but also in terms of technology and marketing...... Honda, which was once invincible in the era of fuel vehicles, suddenly planted a big heel, but I feel that these Japanese still have not changed their thinking, or feel that their own fuel vehicles are the first in the world, and do not want to transform to new energy all of a sudden.