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A grand family banquet, spanning the collective journey of 100 million kilometers, symbolizes Honda's 28-year odyssey alongside countless high-mileage vehicle owners. This gathering encapsulates one million kilometers of travel, one million instances of quality, one million safety records, and one million reputations, all converging in a single space. Within the intricate web of physical space and time, this automaker remains steadfast to its original vision, clearly charting its path to survival and growth. Amidst the bustling automotive landscape, Honda consistently views one million kilometers as the hallmark of an exceptional vehicle, tirelessly inscribing quality onto the odometer and guiding the industry back to the enduring value of the product itself. Beyond the challenges lies a smooth road ahead.

Produced by | Heyan Yueche Studio

Written by | Li Suwan

Edited by | He Zi

Full text: 3,416 characters

Reading time: 5 minutes

As iconic vehicles with one million kilometers under their belts rallied and sped along the high-speed ring road at GAC Honda R&D, they flawlessly replicated the heroic spirit of brand-new cars from yesteryear. Despite these vintage cars being up to 27 years old and having surpassed one million kilometers in mileage, they still roared with vigor, daringly pushing the limits of both mileage and performance.

These veteran car owners hailed from all corners of the country, gathering offline for the first time in response to the call for one million milestones. On June 14th, Honda hosted the "Million-Kilometer Owner Celebration" in Guangzhou, where owners of varying ages and regions shared their time-honored experiences and heartwarming tales.

A family banquet spanning 100 million kilometers represents a unique gathering in the automotive industry, composed of cumulative mileage data from real journeys across mountains and seas. The timeline at the Million Celebration chronicles their interactions with Honda, akin to those of family or friends, transcending time and space, undaunted by challenges (metaphorically represented by wind and rain), with dreams and camaraderie always at heart.

Who Are the Protagonists of One Million Kilometers?

Last year, a 26-year-old sixth-generation Accord with nearly one million kilometers completed a 24-hour non-stop high-intensity endurance challenge on the ring road with zero faults, empirically demonstrating what "quality that stands the test of time" truly means. This year, Song Wengang, the owner of a second-generation City, drove his beloved car, which had accompanied him for a decade and covered over 100,000 kilometers, from Heihe at minus 20 degrees Celsius to Sanya at 30 degrees Celsius, enduring a 50-degree temperature difference and spanning 4,600 kilometers, still with zero faults. These feats continued to resonate widely, inspiring more and more Honda owners to showcase their high-mileage vehicles on social media platforms. According to Honda's backend data, there are already over 1,000 vehicles that have traveled over 900,000 kilometers. In light of this, Honda officially established the "First Passenger Car One-Million-Kilometer Club in China" at this year's Beijing Auto Show, drawing significant industry attention.

One million kilometers is becoming a phenomenal presence in the automotive circle. Just like the simple yet sincere story in the hit movie "Grandma's Love Letter," it connects with more people's emotions, inspiring numerous car enthusiasts to reflect on their journeys amidst the bustling automotive market. Even if the road is paved with thorns, they sprint forward hand in hand, regardless of distinctions between self and others.

This Million Celebration brings together the real stories of these years, these cars, and these people, evoking a wave of nostalgia. Dong Zhonghui from Northeast China brought his wife of forty years to Honda's family banquet, their sweet demeanor prompting the crowd to tease them into a kiss. Besides his wife, another "family member" also brings warmth to his life—the sixth-generation Accord. In 2000, Dong Zhonghui purchased the sixth-generation Accord for 310,000 yuan. His Honda sentiment, nurtured during his youthful studies in Japan, led him to make a decision that others might see as impulsive—choosing to buy a car instead of a house. "You're not a fish, so how do you know the fish's joy?" he would say. To this day, he still believes that what holds more value than a house is companionship. Over 26 years, every scratch and every blemish on the car's body hides the most precious memories of his life.

Unlike Dong Zhonghui, whose face reflects the passage of time, Luo Haowen, a young man, also received the Million-Kilometer Owner badge as a sixth-generation Accord owner, sparking curiosity and even skepticism about how he could handle a legendary car as old as he is. This is a story about two generations. Five years ago, at 18, Luo Haowen obtained his driver's license and, by a magical twist of fate, stumbled upon an Accord for sale—one that his father had once driven. Without hesitation, he bought it and gradually restored it. For Luo Haowen, this Accord is not just a means of transportation; it's the steering wheel his father once held returning to his hands. This old car, with its exceptional quality, tightly binds the father-son emotions and brings him a unique sense of security. Perhaps he will buy other new cars in the future, but this one will always stay by his side.

The stories of million-kilometer owners are far more than these. In this Million-Kilometer Club, there are no scripts or gimmicks, only authentic experiences. Each old car has a real owner's surname, specific age, and mileage, showcasing not just nostalgia but also Honda's formidable strength. Regardless of how time and space change, the essence of automobiles remains quality and safety. Tracing back to the source, Honda publicly shares real-world usage data of one million kilometers, directly presenting vehicle lifespan, failure rates, and long-term reliability for scrutiny. In today's automotive industry, where fast-paced manufacturing prevails, this has positive significance. Using one million kilometers as a benchmark, it is not only a pioneering move in the Chinese passenger car market but also establishes a new evaluation system of "quality proven by mileage, reliability witnessed by time," leading the industry back to the long-term value of the product itself.

One million kilometers is not a simple accumulation of numbers but the ultimate test of a vehicle's comprehensive quality, equivalent to circling the equator 25 times. Ordinary family cars would take nearly 50 years to achieve this, and even high-intensity usage would require more than a decade. Vehicles must undergo thousands of cold starts, hundreds of maintenance sessions, withstand high temperatures, severe cold, bumpy roads, and adapt to diverse domestic fuel qualities and stringent annual inspection standards—the difficulty is evident. Precisely because of this challenge, Honda has become synonymous with reliability and durability in the automotive industry. It is the mileage driven by real users that makes one million kilometers extremely valuable. Honda and its owners walk hand in hand, making each other the "protagonists" of one million kilometers.

Honda's Confidence in Navigating Industry Cycles

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. As vehicles break through the one-million-kilometer milestone across time and space, they continuously record Honda's formidable strength in navigating industry cycles. With 28 years of deep cultivation in the Chinese market, Honda possesses scalable and verifiable long-term reliability, consistently delivering ultra-durable, ultra-reliable, and ultra-safe quality to users, whether with old or new cars.

Behind every hundred kilometers, Honda tirelessly seeks the best answers in physical spaces like production and supply chains, as well as in time dimensions like changing demands and technological iterations, inscribing quality into its very bones. It relentlessly pursues perfection in every detail, from the torque of every screw, the precision of every weld, to the thickness of every paint layer... Honda adopts a rigorous full-link quality system, setting standards 120% higher than the industry in design, manufacturing, and verification. In extreme durability testing, chassis coating lasts 960 hours, brake salt spray testing lasts 1,800 hours—twice or more than the industry standard—and wiring harness testing reaches 50 times the national standard. Meanwhile, Honda has built a global top-tier supply chain, with over 95% of key components sourced from international first-class suppliers. Furthermore, Honda's full-scenario extreme verification relies on six domestic test bases, completing 70 driving conditions and 153 extreme environment tests, with complete vehicle field durability testing exceeding 300,000 kilometers, enduring severe conditions like minus 45 degrees Celsius extreme cold, 50 degrees Celsius extreme heat, and five-kilometer-high altitudes. Regardless of road conditions or climate, it maintains stable and reliable driving performance.

With quality as its cornerstone, Honda simultaneously builds a comprehensive driving safety barrier. Relying on the new Honda Architecture, it achieves a high-rigidity, lightweight, and long-durable underlying design, ensuring that even after one million kilometers, the body structure remains undeformed, and performance does not decay. Key positions of the body use 1500MPa hot-formed ultra-high-strength steel, with high-strength steel accounting for about 50% of the entire vehicle. Combined with Honda's ACE energy-absorbing body structure, it efficiently disperses impact forces, firmly safeguarding the cabin's safety space. Passive protection complements active intelligent protection, with main models like Accord, Breeze, and Integra standardly equipped with ten airbags, fully covering and protecting occupants inside the vehicle. Coupled with the Honda SENSING Safety SuperSense system, it integrates intelligent functions like pre-collision braking, lane keeping, adaptive cruise control, and blind spot monitoring. From architecture, steel materials, configurations to intelligent technologies, Honda provides layered protection for every vehicle's one-million-kilometer journey.

In the short term, these efforts increase financial and time costs and may even delay new car launches compared to competitors. However, in the long run, this "disadvantage" often transforms into core competitiveness, representing a necessary strategic investment for pursuing long-lasting reputation. Honda has earned the reputation of "unbreakable" products, gaining the trust of millions of users and endorsements from authoritative institutions. Honda has won the J.D. Power China Initial Quality Study (IQS) mainstream brand championship for six consecutive years, with the Accord winning the J.D. Power China IQS segment championship for ten consecutive years. Additionally, models like Accord, Breeze, and Integra have all received the G-level excellent top safety evaluation in core tests by the China Insurance Automotive Safety Index (C-IASI), ranking top in both safety and durability. Not just new cars, Honda models like Accord and Fit also consistently rank as "gods" in the residual value ratings of the used car market. By adhering to high quality in both visible and invisible aspects, Honda forms a unique deep bond with users in the automotive circle, affirming the value of pursuing long-termism.

The reputation for quality continues to generate a ripple effect of "one telling ten, ten telling a hundred." Honda adheres to its brand's original aspiration and proposition as "engineers of time," redefining good car standards with one-million-kilometer quality, allowing true craftsmanship that withstands the test of time and space to be seen by more people. With one million kilometers as the starting point, Honda rides into new horizons. It has the strength, confidence, and power to navigate the ups and downs of industry cycles, lying dormant, honing itself, and continuously growing amidst life's folds. According to plans, Honda will launch three new models next year, covering fuel, hybrid, and new energy sectors, including the all-new Accord, a new hybrid model equipped with Honda's fifth-generation i-MMD hybrid technology, and a self-developed model based on China's new energy platform. This will provide users with more diverse choices in the new automotive era and help Honda continue to gain more followers.

As this family banquet spanning 100 million kilometers nears its end, Honda executives personally serve an exquisite dessert to each million-kilometer owner, symbolizing a sweet new beginning for the next journey.

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