Posted on Sunday 20 April 2008
Honda has given us the first taste of its new budget brand with the unveiling of an unnamed hatchback concept at this weekend’s Beijing Motor Show. The new brand is designed along the lines of Toyota’s Scion sub-brand and will be testing the waters in emerging markets such as China and India before launching in more established markets.
Honda is yet to pick an official name of the new brand but it’s currently carrying the title ‘Li Nian’ (Chinese for ‘subject’). The sub-brand will be characterized as a separate division of Honda, similar to Acura, but at the cheaper end of the automotive spectrum, reports AutoWeek.
Li Nian’s first production car will be based on the sporty hatchback concept, according to officials, and will be produced in China with Honda’s local partner Guangzhou Motors around 2010. It will be based on the same platform used for the current Honda Fit (Jazz) and will feature an efficient 1.8L petrol engine.
Guangzhou currently builds Odyssey, Accord and Fit models for the local Chinese market, although a number of Fit cars are exported to Europe, and quality of the vehicles are said to be comparable with those coming out of Honda’s Japanese plants.
… and in staying with a rich chinese automotive heritage, they showed off a copy of the ford fiesta.
Interesting … I always wondered if Honda would follow the Scion lead. As prices & sizes of the Accord/Civic continue to go up, I guess a bargain brand was necessary.
And the more dynamic designs end up at the sub-brand level? Why?
Ford Fiesta is right. boy did they do a copy or what?
mlevere, because cheap cars need to look radical to sell. that and the old dry boring types dont want to drive something like this. that is apparent from the styling of any large car. the bigger they get, the more boring they are. look at toyota for example. the best looking car they have is the yaris hatch. at least who ever designed that car had a pulse. same thing with ford. focus is pretty “polarized” in design, then the fusion is a little more mild, then the taurus is just… ‘there’.
take a look at scion, kia, suzuki, and you get cars that are pretty odd.
I’ve been thinking about this… if honda can ripoff a car that ford is planning on selling in china, and offer competitive prices, then they’re really smart. I’m sure the chinese would rather a honda to a ford, and if a cheap honda can rip off one of the most stylish cars ford has made in decades, then damn… they really know what theyre doing.