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Honda Motors is making its redesigned Fit subcompact vehicle the "pillar" of a new global expansion, lifting it to a status achieved only by vehicles like its Civic model.
Chief Executive Takanobu Ito has set "an aggressive target" to increase Honda's global car sales to 6 million vehicles or more annually by March 2017 according to Reuters.
Honda sold 4 million cars in 2012, though the Japanese automaker expects half of the 6 million sales to come from emerging markets.
The new Fit, which is popular in emerging Asian markets where it is sold as the Jazz, is expected to account for one-quarter of the 6 million target, or approximately the same ratio the Civic holds right now.
Honda would like to double Fit sales to 1.5 million by March 2017, which would be an increase from last year's 760,000 according to Vice President Tetsuo Iwamura.
The Fit series has been around for 12 years in different kinds of options like the popular hatchback and sedan versions. The redesigned hatchback will go on sale in Japan in September but the U.S. won't see the new car until sometime in 2014 according to Reuters.
Honda has to figure out a way to increase the Fit's profitability however as small cars tend to bring in less money than trucks or other bigger vehicles.
"That's a big problem for Honda because we are increasingly reliant on small cars, but we were able to improve profitability for the Fit series," said Hiroshi Takemura, who oversees Honda's small car operations, according to Reuters.
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