By George Guimarães | 6/5/23 | Translated by Jorge Meditsch
Even considering that volume has never been a Honda’s concern since it began producing cars in Brazil at the end of the 1990s, the Japanese brand seems increasingly less prone to dispute in some of the market’s most representative segments. Its cheaper and refurbished models City Hatch and Sedan sales not only didn’t take off, but have been losing space for the competitors in 2023.
The launch of the new generation HR-V and the imported Civic in last year’s second half signal the brand’s attitude now evidenced by the two City versions’ figures.
The hatch had 5,849 licensed units from January through May. It repeated last year’s weak performance in the same period, when its production was still beginning. It is only eighth in the segment, which grew by 31% in the same period.The Sedan performance is even worst. In five months, the 5,538 units sold show a 45% fall from last year’s same period, while its segment grew by over 11%.
Honda’s bestseller car in Brazil is the HR-V, much ahead of the City models. For each City Hatch or Sedan, three HR-Vs are sold. In the first five months of 2023, 15.7 units of the SUV were delivered, with prices over R$ 150 thousand.
The HR-V sales were 57% of the nearly 27.5 thousand vehicles commercialized by Honda in 2023. In other brands, such would be an entry model share, and in just a few cases.
Type R: a sporty model to polish the image
Honda has also entered a higher price range in Brazil. Thinking more in the image than volume, it already sells the also imported Civic Type R. Its only two versions – with or without the Traffic Alert package – sell for R$ 434,900.00 and R$ 429,900.00 and can take only four passengers.
It’s clearly not ‘one more’ Civic, but a real sport version made in Japan. It has a 297cv and 42.8 Nm two-liter turbo engine and manual transmission, with custom-made tires in 19-inch wheels, bucket seats and other technical and visual attractions for those who appreciate – and can pay – for the sporty image.
Safety follows Honda’s higher standards with the standard Sensing package, including adaptive cruise control, emergency braking, lane keeping, lane depart and high beam control systems. The Traffic Alert package adds blind spot alert and rear cross-traffic monitoring.
In 2023, the imported Civic sold just 291 units in Brazil, versus 16.1 thousand of its rival Toyota Corolla. One more proof that Honda lives in new times, mainly in a period of more expensive products.
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