Honda has announced that they are aiming to double there global auto sales to over 6 million vehicles over the next five years in an attempt to bounce back after the disaster in northeastern Japan and Thailand floods of last year.
"We have now reached the stage of going on the offensive," said Takanobu Ito, President of Honda Motor Co to The Houston Chronicle in a press conference on Friday.
Emerging markets would drive growth in key areas that were lacking in auto sales last year such as China and India. The Fit series models have been designed to meet the growing demand for gas-guzzling cars worldwide. The redesigned Fit subcompact will be released globally next year and will be renamed the Jazz in some areas to help increase sales. The Fit range of cars will reportedly include a small sport-utility vehicle.
Model development is expected to pick up the pace as well, as Honda has stressed to their engineers in all regions to do their part while still adapting designs and other features to customer needs in each specific market.
Honda sold 3.1 million vehicles through March of 2012, which makes there five year goal seem quite ambitious. It would mean the company would have to sell 1.7 million more cars compared to their goal for the current fiscal year.
Some of the other area's Ito discussed for Honda's medium-term strategy includes a fuel-cell vehicle in 2015 to be released in the U.S., Europe and Japan. They are also hoping to offer more hybrid cars, including a plug-in hybrid model as early as next year. By the end of 2015 they're also planning on releasing at least six new "mini-cars" in Japan to help maintain production in one of their biggest markets.
This plan was formed to help put Japan's third biggest car maker back on track after suffering drastically due to the March earthquake and tsunami in Japan and massive floods in Thailand.
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