Guangqi starts to produce in-house engine in China and gets ready to achieve sales target of 2015

Gasgoo.com (Shanghai Oct 23)– Guangqi Honda,a Chinese automobile manufacturer co-owned by Honda and GAC Group, has started a third plant to produce some small models and in-house engines. The operation of this new plant will boost Guangqi Honda’s capacity to a new level and complete its production and process chain, marking this company’s transfer from a manufacturer to an integrated carmaker.

According to the reporter from Securities Daily, Guangzhou Honda would only assemble finished vehicles in the past, with engines supplied by Dongfeng Honda, another co-owned Honda manufacturer in China. The operation of Dongfeng’s new plant will put this to an end and start a new chapter of in-house engine production for this carmaker.

Guangqi will not absolute its engine purchase plan with Dongfeng Honda, according to Mizuno Yasuhide, General Manager at Guangqi Honda. “The research and development of engine is a very advanced field, and the quality of Dongfeng’s engines is as excellent and stable as always. Meanwhile, our third plant will still need some time before the maturity of related technologies.” said Mizuno Yasuhide.

In a bid to meet China’s fleet-average fuel consumption requirement of 5L/100km for new passenger cars in 2020, Guangqi Honda plans to produce 2 engine models in China, namely a turbo charged engine and an HEV engine, and the third plant will firstly produce Honda’s AP4 engine for FIT subcompact car.

Guangqi Honda has sold 380,000 units for the first 9 months of 2015, a pretty impressive 40.3% increase compared with last year, considered the overall depressing China auto market. For the time being, it seems Guangqi Honda has a good chance to achieve its 550,000-unit sales target for 2015, and maybe even hit 600,000 units.