Wall Street Journal: Honda China Expectations

TOKYO (Dow Jones)--Honda Motor Co. (7267.TO) aims to boost its sales in China by 12% in 2011 compared with this year, a Honda executive said Friday, in a sign that the company expects the key market to continue to log solid growth.

The Japanese car maker is targeting sales of 730,000 vehicles in China for 2011, up from its estimated 2010 sales of 650,000 vehicles, Seiji Kuraishi, the head of Honda's China operations, said at a meeting with reporters.

The company's estimated sales for 2010 also represents a 12% increase from the previous year.

The 12% growth target for next year is upbeat, as it would beat a 10% rise in industrywide sales expected by Xiong Chuanlin, vice secretary of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

Kuraishi also said that the company wants to produce hybrid vehicles in China, in a bid to make them more affordable for the local market. A monthly output volume of at least 2,000 hybrid cars would be needed, he said without elaborating.

Honda currently sells a hybrid version of the Civic small car in China that is imported from Japan. But sales totaled only about 200 units in 2009.

The car maker plans to broaden its hybrid lineup in China by rolling out two more models--the Insight car and the CR-Z coupe---in 2012.

Those models will also be imported from Japan, at least initially.