Guangzhou Honda to make new Honda sedan

GUANGZHOU -- Guangzhou Honda Automobile Co. will produce a new Honda-badge sedan mounted with a 1.8-liter gasoline engine, with sales expected to start sometime in 2009, sources from the company and a supplier say.

Sources say Honda Motor Co. is now developing the new car based on the chassis of the City sedan. The City, currently being built in Guangzhou Honda, is the sedan version of the Fit compact hatchback.

"We call it the new generation of City internally, but the car will probably have a new name because it will have a completely new shape," says an engineer from Guangzhou Honda.

The new car will also have a bigger size than the City. "Its size will be similar to that of Civic," the engineer adds.

It is still unknown when Guangzhou Honda will start mass producing the new car, but another source from the company and a supplier source predict sales will begin sometime in 2009.

"We haven't started sourcing components for the new model yet," says the Guangzhou Honda source.

Guangzhou Honda's existing products are priced either below 140,000 yuan ($20,000) or above 180,000 yuan ($25,700).

Details on the pricing of the new car are not available. But it is expected to be priced at roughly the same level of Civic. Dongfeng Honda Automobile Co, the Civic's producer, sells the Civic for 150,000-180,000 yuan ($21,430-25,700).

As a result, the new car is likely to fuel competition between Honda's two joint ventures in China: Guangzhou Honda and Dongfeng Honda.

The sources also say Guangzhou Honda will stop producing the current City model after the new car is launched. Instead, it will launch a self brand model.

"The self brand car will be a facelifted version of the current City," says the Guangzhou Honda engineer. "So a new car will carry a 1.8-liter engine while the existing City will be redesigned into Guangzhou Honda's self brand car," he adds.

Guangzhou Honda set up an r&d center in Guangzhou last year to develop new models that will be sold under Guangzhou Honda's self brand. Sales of the first self brand model will begin in 2010.

At present, Guangzhou Honda also produces the Odyssey van and Accord sedan besides the Fit and City models, while Dongfeng Honda is making the C-RV SUV and the Civic sedan.