With a tight, fashionable design and good performance, Honda's Crider sedan is the first to combine the Chinese cultural elements. [Photo / China Daily] 

 

Japanese car maker Honda Motor Co is hoping to achieve a jump in sales by introducing an unprecedented lineup tailor-made for the Chinese market through its two joint ventures at the ongoing Shanghai auto show .

This is a continuation of the automaker's mid-term plan for the market unveiled last April.

The company announced its intent to introduce more than 10 new models, including small-displacement cars and plug-in hybrids, before 2015 with the goal of doubling annual sales compared to 2011, when nearly 618,000 units were sold.

Honda's latest Earth Dreams powertrain technology will be applied for the first time in China to the all-new Accord, a popular mid-sized sedan that will be locally made by the automaker's joint venture Guangqi Honda in the southern city of Guangzhou.

The all-new Accord will go on sale in September.

According to the mid-term strategy, by 2015 all the models under Honda brands sold in China will be equipped with this powertrain.

"Honda will strengthen its mid-term strategy and create a beautiful future with Chinese customers by bringing them more new products that have new value, fun and convenience," said Seiji Kuraishi, president of Honda Motors China.

The models by Honda and its Chinese joint ventures that will be making a global premiere at the show include the Crider sedan, the Concept M MPV and the Jade, an avant-garde sedan.

Aimed at the acutely competitive mid-sized segment, the Crider is Honda's first model that features an international design language fused with Chinese cultural elements.

The company began accepting orders for the 1.8-liter Crider, produced at Guangqi Honda, on April 19, and it will go on sale starting in June.

Guangqi Honda will also launch a new Everus S1 compact sedan in May.

Created in 2008, the Everus is the joint venture's wholly owned brand.

Toshiaki Mikoshiba, president of Guangqi Honda, said these new products will help the joint venture increase sales in coming years.

By 2020, the joint venture is hoping to achieve 1 million units in annual sales, or more than triple the total for last year.

It sold 316,000 cars in 2012, a decline of 12.7 percent, as a result of an aggressive new product offensive by competito rs and an anti-Japan backlash among consumers resulting from territorial disputes over the Diaoyu Islands between China and Japan .

Honda's overall sales in China tumbled by 3.1 percent to 599,000 units last year.

The Jade will be built at the company's other joint venture, Dongfeng Honda, and will hit the market in September.

The Concept M's production model is expected to go on sale in China next year, according to Honda, though the company did not reveal which joint venture will produce it.