Dongfeng Honda Remains Committed to Progress

Main Text

The competitive landscape of China's automotive market has grown increasingly intense, putting joint venture automakers at a disadvantage in terms of mechanisms and product offerings. Facing this pivotal historical juncture, the challenge for every joint venture automaker is how to survive in the present and face the future.

As a former leader among joint venture automakers, Dongfeng Honda has chosen to uphold ethical principles and embrace unconventional strategies.

Recently, the "Dongfeng Honda Second Season Benjia DAY and Technology Experience Day" was held in Wuhan, attracting over 100 Dongfeng Honda users to this brand event. Last year, Dongfeng Honda officially launched the user brand "Benjia" to explore new modes of user engagement.

As China's automotive market rapidly transitions towards a dominance of new energy vehicles, Dongfeng Honda, with its product core centered on gasoline vehicles and conventional hybrids, faces limited options to maintain its previous production and sales scale. It can either pursue exports or tap into Honda China's existing user base of eight million.

The introduction of the "Benjia" brand represents the latter approach. In a Chinese automotive market where the concepts of good brands and products have become blurred, Dongfeng Honda's strengths are clearest to its users. Facing the future, this is a practical, transitional, and beneficial approach.

"We want to share the latest from Dongfeng Honda with our family members firsthand and let everyone know how we are creating new value," said Takehiro Watanabe, General Manager of Dongfeng Honda Automobile Co., Ltd. It is evident that communicating Dongfeng Honda's value to "Benjia" members has become a crucial aspect of the company's marketing communications.

Under this strategy, Dongfeng Honda has indeed reaped some rewards.

For instance, Civic owner Zhao Yang traded in his Civic for a Lingxi L, while another owner, Zhang Jun, has pre-ordered the Lieguang model. He stated, "Dongfeng Honda's vehicle manufacturing technology and quality are industry-leading. The pure electric car is easy to drive, doesn't cause motion sickness, and has a spacious interior. My wife and children are very satisfied."

It should be noted that relying solely on tapping into the existing user group is insufficient to drive a joint venture automaker forward. Peugeot Citroen, which is closest to Dongfeng Honda, can serve as a cautionary tale.

So, what is the solution?

In the view of Electric Drive, tapping into existing users is indeed a viable strategy for joint venture automakers at present, but in the long run, keeping up with market demand, adhering to the R&D rhythm, and ensuring the continuous launch of new products are paramount. Simultaneously, it is essential to believe that a good product will continue to generate incremental value. At this juncture, it is crucial to manage the pace of enterprise development to avoid collapse.

Among the many joint venture automakers, Dongfeng Honda may be the "most aggressive" in terms of new energy products. It already offers multiple models such as Lieguang, Lingxi L, and Ye S7. However, due to the current unique market development situation, the overall industry attention is not high.

In fact, there is a solution to this. In the view of Electric Drive, this requires Dongfeng Honda to undertake a thorough innovation, encompassing new energy technology research and development, the selection of new energy vehicle models, and even the study of the new energy market and marketing strategies.

Obviously, this is no easy feat, but it must be done.

A notable aspect of this year's "Benjia DAY" is that the event was held at the newly commissioned new energy factory. Indeed, Dongfeng Honda now has a new energy factory, and the production line is already operational. This signifies that Dongfeng Honda is once again at the forefront of the transformation of joint venture automakers. Concurrently, the pressure on Dongfeng Honda's new energy transformation has surged dramatically. Vehicle models can be discontinued, but factories cannot be idled.

"I want to ask everyone to believe that Dongfeng Honda is changing and will bring more new technologies, products, and experiences to everyone. But please also believe that Dongfeng Honda has not changed and remains the Dongfeng Honda filled with love and passion," said Takehiro Watanabe in an extremely sincere tone, summarizing Dongfeng Honda's present and future through a statement of change and constancy.

Due to the dominance of foreign parties, joint venture automakers have limited options for their current passive situation. To turn the tide, they need to strengthen their independence, and most importantly, the foreign party must make a strategic shift. For now, Honda appears to have this intention.

"Honda has publicly unveiled its self-developed all-solid-state battery for the first time, complete with a demonstration production line for mass production. As a cutting-edge technology, the all-solid-state battery will revolutionize the pure electric era. In the future, Honda's mass-produced vehicles will also be equipped with solid-state batteries, addressing issues such as electric vehicle range, safety, and charging time, providing users with a new value," reiterated Gong Xi, Assistant Executive Vice President of Dongfeng Honda and Deputy Director of the New Model Center, highlighting Honda's recent breakthrough in self-developed solid-state battery technology.