Honda announces new global plans

In his first official speech, Honda’s new CEO Takahiro Hachigo has announced the company’s new plans for its six-region global operations, along with the future models to expect from the company.

Takahiro said that Honda would develop its matrix management system in each of the six-regions so that each region’s production capacity could be expanded to focus on complete global operations. Each of the six regions would be developed to increase production capacity and established sales, development and purchasing functions, allowing them to manufacture exclusive models tailored to suit each region. The main headquarters would also be upgraded for better inter-regional relationships. An example of this would be the next-gen Civic which will be built in Europe and exported to the US, while the Jazz would be built in Japan and exported to Europe and America.

In the field of product development, he said that the upcoming next-gen Civic would get a
line-up of downsized turbo-charged engines, and a new platform. Takahiro also stated that, in the future, core products like the Accord and CR-V would undergo a full-model change in the future with the new cars expected to be more attractive that will come loaded with the latest tech, and will offer better competition in the market. He also said that by the end of the fiscal year 2015-16, the company would also launch the successor to the FCX Clarity in the Japanese market.

An important piece of news he revealed was that Nigeria would become the first African country to assemble Honda cars, with local assembly for the Accord to start sometime in July. In other news, Takahiro said that Honda would start deliveries of its HF120 jet engines and HondaJet light business jet aircrafts later this year.

In India, Honda is set to launch the new Accord sometime next year, and will initially only come with a petrol engine, with a possibility of getting a hybrid powertrain in the future. The company is also developing a new 7-seater small SUV for the Indian market called the BR-V and is expected to showcase the model at the Auto Expo 2016. The SUV will be based on the same platform as the Mobilio and is expected to get the same engines as well, when launched next year.