Not only high in price, Honda CR-V is also considered unsuitable for the Japanese market.

In 2021, Honda CR-V is the second best-selling SUV globally with sales of 783,000 vehicles, just behind rival Toyota RAV4. However, Honda CR-V is not popular in the Japanese market. That is why Honda has decided to stop selling CR-V in this market.

Rumors about the Honda CR-V being dead in the domestic market were revealed by dealers at the end of last year. This is the information that Honda shared during a business conference for dealers in Japan in early December 2021.

It was not until May 9^th, that Honda announced the discontinuation of the CR-V in Japan. The final Honda CR-Vs for the Japanese market will ship at the end of August this year.

About a week ago, Honda officially launched the 6th generation of the CR-V series in the North American market. However, the return of the Honda CR-V 2023 to the Japanese market remains undecided.

It is expected that the gap left by the CR-V will be filled by the junior Honda ZR-V 2023. Similar to Toyota Corolla Cross, the new Honda ZR-V is also located between the two B- and C-size crossover segments. A few days, Honda also released the first official images and information of the ZR-V for the Japanese market. As planned, this small crossover will be sold in the domestic market by the end of this year.

In addition to CR-V, Honda also stops selling 3 other models in Japan, including Accord, Insight and Shuttle. Honda Insight and Shuttle were announced to stop selling on May 9, stopping production at the end of August this year. Meanwhile, Honda Accord will be discontinued in September 2022. The production line of this midsize sedan at the factory in Thailand has temporarily stopped. Honda dealers in Japan have also stopped accepting deposits for the Accord. Honda will continue to sell until the stock runs out.

Many fear that the decision to stop selling the Accord, after Legend and Insight, will cause Honda’s sedans to eventually disappear from the Japanese market. However, in reality, Honda Accord will not completely disappear from the Japanese market. Instead, Honda only temporarily stopped distributing the Accord until the new generation of the car goes on sale. It is likely that the Honda Accord 2023 will be officially launched by the end of this year.

When asked by a reporter on the reason for stop selling the above 4 models, a Honda representative said: “This is the result of a re-examination of market trends in Japan”. It is known that in the past 2 years, Honda has announced to stop selling a total of 10 models, including Odyssey, Legend, Clarity, Acty, S660, CR-V, Accord, Shuttle, Insight and NSX.

This is probably part of Honda’s product portfolio reform plan to shift to electric cars. In April 2022, Honda held a press conference to announce the strategy for said strategy. Accordingly, from now until the end of 2030, Honda will invest 40 billion USD to introduce a total of 30 new electric car models on the global market.

Source: tinxe.vn