Dongfeng Honda

Dongfeng Honda
Dongfeng Honda
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese	东风本田
Traditional Chinese	東風本田
Hanyu Pinyin
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Dōngfēng Běntián
Wade–Giles	Tung1-feng1 Pen3-t'ien2
IPA	[tʊ́ŋfə́ŋ pəntʰi̯ɛn]
Yue: Cantonese
Yale Romanization	Dūngfūng Búntìhn
Jyutping	Dung1 fung1 bun2 tin4
Japanese name
Kanji	東風本田
Hiragana	とうふうほんだ ; or とんぷうほんだ
Revised Hepburn
Transcriptions
Revised Hepburn	Tōfū Honda ; or Tonpū Honda

Dongfeng Honda Automobile Co., Ltd.
Native name	东风本田汽车有限公司
Company type	Joint venture
Industry	Automotive
Founded	July 2003 (Wuhan)
Headquarters	Wuhan, Hubei, China
Products	Automobiles
Production output	740,090 (2018)
Parent	Dongfeng Motor Group (50%); Honda Motor Company (40%); Honda Motor (China) Investment Co Ltd (10%)
Website	www.dongfeng-honda.com

Dongfeng Honda Automobile Co., Ltd. is an automobile manufacturing company headquartered in Wuhan, China, and a 50:50 joint-venture between Dongfeng Motor Group and Honda Motor Company. It currently produces a variety of Honda models also available in other markets and a handful of China-only products. The company sells vehicles under the Honda and Ciimo marques.

According to Honda, the total production capacity for the two plants of Dongfeng Honda in Wuhan, were 480,000 units, yearly.^[3] However, Dongfeng Motor Group reported that 713,840 units were produced by Dongfeng Honda in 2017.^[1]

History

Dongfeng Honda was established in July 2003^[4] and began automobile production in April 2004 with the Honda CR-V sport utility vehicle.^[5]

In February 2006, Dongfeng Honda completed a 2.8 billion yuan (US$340 million) expansion of its production facility quadrupling production capacity to 120,000 units.^[6] In May 2008, it announced plans to double production capacity to 240,000 vehicles a year with an investment of 10 billion RMB.^[7]^[8] In 2010, Dongfeng Honda's first sub-brand Ciimo was founded, with first model presented in 2011.^[9]

As of 2011, product part-content included parts manufactured in Japan.^[10] Honda builds a second Wuhan factory in 2012, a third in 2018, takes over an idle Shenlong factory in 2021 and announces an all-new BEV-only factory earlier this year. Almost at the same time as Dongfeng Honda, the Japanese set up a third joint venture plant called Honda Automobile (China). Honda owns a majority of 65%, GAC holds 25% and Dongfeng has 10%. This plant is only used for export to Asia and the Middle East.

In 2022, the company became more heavily involved in sourcing batteries for electric vehicles.^[11] In 2023, a second sub-brand of the joint venture, Lingxi, was introduced, under which exclusively electric cars are to be marketed.^[12] The first model is the 4.83 meter long sedan Lingxi L.^[13]

Operations

As of 2016, Dongfeng Honda had two completed production bases and a third planned. The proposed factory will be situated near its 2004 and 2012 production bases in Wuhan, Hubei.^[14]

Products

Honda

CR-V (2004–present)
Civic (2006–present)
Elysion (2012–present)
Envix (2019–present)
HR-V (2023–present)
Inspire (2018–present)
Life (2020–present)
UR-V (2017–present)
XR-V (2014–present)
e:NS1 (2021–present)
e:NS2 (2024–present)
Ye S7 (2024–present)

Ciimo

Ciimo is a sub-marque of Dongfeng Honda launched in April 2012 and aimed at first-time car buyers. It markets a rebadged eight-generation Honda Civic featuring the design of the Japanese market model.^[15] The Ciimo brand's second product is the X-NV, which is a rebadged Honda XR-V featuring slightly restyled front end design and clear tail lamps.

Lingxi

Lingxi is a new energy vehicle brand under the Dongfeng Honda joint venture, established in September 2023. The Lingxi L is the first electric vehicle under the brand. It is being built on a new chassis dedicated to EVs and will feature a new battery safety system.