Unlike Toyota Motors, Japan's Honda Motor has decided to lower its sales target in China. Yesterday, the reporter learned from Honda Motors that its new car sales target in China was lowered by 638,000 units this year, down by about 12.7% from the 731,000 units set at the beginning of the year. In the first half of this year, Honda Motor sold 271,000 vehicles in China and completed only 37% of its previous full-year sales target.

When asked why the sales target was lowered, Zhu Linjie, spokesman of Honda Motor China, frankly stated that the two joint ventures, Guangqi Honda and Dongfeng Honda, have insufficient capacity. The previous goal was basically based on the two major joint ventures operating at full capacity. The Japanese earthquake caused production stagnation in the first half of the year. Although Guangqi Honda and Dongfeng Honda resumed their normal operations in July, it is unlikely that the second half of the year will fully recover the outstanding debts in the first half of the year. According to news from the Honda Automobile Headquarters, sales in 2011 will remain unchanged from 2010, but Honda Motor will enter a high growth phase in 2012.

It is reported that the sales target of Guangzhou Automobile Honda has been reduced from 442,000 to 386,000, and the sales target of Dongfeng Honda has been reduced from 282,000 to 246,000, and the sales volume of imported vehicles is expected to be higher than last year. In response, Guangzhou Automobile Honda and Dongfeng Honda did not comment. The person in charge of Dongfeng Honda stated that since July of this year, the production capacity of the main model CRV has been restored. Guangqi Honda said that production capacity will resume at the end of June and will resume production capacity in the busy phase in August. It is expected that the sales of Guangzhou Automobile Honda will also increase significantly during the peak season from September to October. In addition, although competitive brands have set off a price war, Guangzhou Automobile Honda will not be involved.