Honda Sets New Record In ASEAN – Market Share In Malaysia 2nd Highest Worldwide

Honda ended 2016 by setting a new sales record in South East Asia, with actual retail sales of Honda cars within the ASEAN trade bloc reaching 431,832 cars, 7 percent higher than 2015.

In Thailand, Honda overtook archrival Toyota in the passenger cars market for the second year in a row.

Meanwhile in Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines, Honda recorded its all-time highest annual sales.

Indonesia’s record of 190,229 Honda cars sold, up 14 percent from last year, now accounts for 44 percent of Honda’s total sales in ASEAN. Thailand (25 percent) and Malaysia (21 percent) round up Honda’s top-three markets in the region.

Indonesia is now Honda’s fourth largest market worldwide, behind USA, China, and Japan. Its 18 percent market share is also the highest for any Honda automobile business unit in the world.

Although ranking behind Thailand and Indonesia, Honda Malaysia’s contribution to Honda’s performance in ASEAN is actually just as impressive because the volume is generated from a smaller market. Thailand’s car market is 30 percent larger than Malaysia’s while Indonesia is nearly twice as big.

Malaysia is also the only country in ASEAN where Honda stayed ahead of Toyota not just in the passenger cars segment, but also overall, despite the fact that Honda doesn’t sell any commercial vehicles here. For 2016, Honda Malaysia upped its ante further by becoming the No.1 non-national car brand. Its 16 percent market share is the second highest in the world, behind Indonesia.

Honda Malaysia’s momentum for 2016 was contributed by the all-new Civic, which recorded an impressive 165 percent increase over 2015 sales, while popular existing models such as the HR-V and Jazz saw consistently strong sales in Malaysia.

Asian Honda Motor Co., Ltd., the regional headquarters of Honda in the Asia & Oceania (A&O) region attributes Honda’s success in the region to strong customer acceptance for the all-new Civic, which doubled its sales from 2015, as well as the BR-V, which sold 45,000 units, contributing 10 percent of all Honda cars sold in ASEAN last year.

In terms of overall volume, the popular HR-V crossover made the greatest contribution to 2016 regional sales, accounting for 20% of the total with more than 87,000 units sold. The City, a very well received sedan throughout the ASEAN region, and the global Jazz model, remained strong in the region with sales of over 72,000 and 58,000 units respectively, also making a major contribution to Honda’s overall ASEAN sales for 2016.