Honda Phils eyes importation of completely built up hybrid cars

Japanese-owned Honda Philippines Inc. is interested in importing completely built up units of hybrid vehicles.

Honda president and general manager Takashi Sekiguchi admitted that Honda had expressed interest to the Board of Investments (BOI) in importing completely built up units of hybrid vehicles.

At the same time, Honda is gearing up for increased competition with the introduction yesterday of its redesigned compact City model.

According to Arnel Doria, deputy head for marketing of Honda, the car firm is hoping to regain its 27 percent market share for the 1,300 cc compact car segment.

Sales for the new City, Sekiguchi said, is projected at 400 units a month and production at about 500 units a month.

The new City is assembled locally.

The new City is still priced competitively, but Doria warned that when the expanded value-added tax (EVAT) takes effect, Honda alone would have to adjust upward its price by three to four percent.

The price would go even higher, Doria warned, as the dealers would also have to input their own EVAT.

The new City 1.3 liter model would start at P561,000 up to P641,000.

The bigger sized 1.5 liter VTEC would start at P681,000 up to P721,000.

Doria said while Honda is gearing up for increased competition in the compact segment, they are not quite ready to go into local production of hybrid vehicles as the technology is still quite costly.

Doria admitted that there may be a market for hybrid vehicles, specifically for those who are environmentally conscious and who are willing to pay the high price for such fuel-efficient vehicles.

Local production, Doria said, would depend on just how willing the BOI is to encourage such activity and what incentives it would be willing to extend.

At the same time, Sekiguchi also nixed the possibility of Honda participating in the Automotive Export Program (AEP) with respect to its motorcycle production.

Honda has a motorcycle manufacturing plant in Batangas which has a still underutilized production capacity of 500,000 units.

At present, Honda’s Batangas plant turns out only 200,000 units.

According to Sekiguchi, most of Honda’s motorcycle manufacturing in the region is already well-established and have strong local content tailored for their specific markets.

If the BOI does reduce the tariff on CBUs, Sekiguchi said, Honda would probably bring in its Civic hybrid which is currently being introduced in Japan.