Honda says it’s not a ‘volume brand’, but it’s not using its upmarket status as a reason not to grow sales in Australia, where it says the CR-V has the potential to topple the Toyota RAV4 from its throne.
The Japanese brand’s local sales in the first seven months of 2025 have put Honda on target to sell more than 15,000 vehicles this year, which would would be its best result since adopting a controversial agency sales strategy in the middle of 2021, a year in which it sold 17,562 vehicles.
But that’s still a far cry from its pre-COVID days when it consistently sold more than 40,000 vehicles annually, including a peak of over 60,000 sales in 2007.
While the switch to agency sales, which introduced fixed drive-away prices nationally and ownership of vehicles by Honda rather than its dealers, came with a lower annual sales forecast of around 18,000 vehicles, Honda Australia is still to reach that number.
However, under the new leadership of CEO Jay Joseph and managing director Rob Thorp, both of whom took up their respective positions in April 2025, Honda says it has no intention to become a volume brand once again.
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“We’ve earned this niche of not just being a mainstream brand that’s just selling volume on price, but because of the inherent qualities and tech innate qualities of our products,” Mr Joseph told CarExpert.
“We’ve earned a spot where there are premium mainstream products. Honda is not trying to reposition itself as a volume brand – that is not our aspiration – but as far as the space we occupy here, we don’t behave like a volume brand because we don’t need to, because our value proposition is not just the product and not just the price, but it’s how we take care of customers.
“[But] Don’t get me wrong – we have volume potential.”
Mr Joseph spoke of “aggressive” sales growth for the brand, but – while many auto brands including new Chinese entrants publicly state their sales forecasts and even their desired rank on the Australian sales charts – Honda will not.
“We’re not putting a number on it, but we’re quite ambitious with our growth plan,” Mr Thorp told CarExpert.
“We think we’ve got a current product portfolio, plus a range of models that we’re able to bring to market that’s going to give us the opportunity to extract more growth out of this brand, and particularly the growth I think it deserves.
“It all comes down to our ability to execute on the quality of the product that we’re going to have access to – that becomes the challenge in the current environment.”
Honda Australia currently sells only five models – the small Civic hatchback, the mid-size Accord sedan, and the HR-V small SUV and ZR-V and CR-V mid-size SUVs – but it recently outlines a future product plan including the release of more hybrid powertrain options for its best-selling CR-V lineup to tackle the top-selling, hybrid-only Toyota RAV4.
It also confirmed the born-again Honda Prelude sports car – with a hybrid powertrain – for Australian release in 2026, when it will also launch its first electric vehicle (EV).
While Mr Thorp and Mr Joseph confirmed the company is keen on the Honda 0 Series range of EVs for Australia, they cautioned that the 0 Series (and the Prelude) won’t be volume-sellers.
Instead, the Honda Australia leadership team pointed to hybrid-powered mid-size SUVs, specifically the CR-V, as its biggest growth potential.
“We know that the CR-V is the best vehicle in this segment – the CR-V hybrid is the absolute best vehicle in the segment in terms of driving performance and versatility, and the overall value proposition,” Mr Joseph said.
“When we look at how we take care of the customer after the sale – low-cost servicing, resale value – when you look at all of that together, aside from the fact it’s the best driving vehicle in its segment… if it’s the best vehicle in its segment, why wouldn’t it be the best-selling vehicle in that segment?
“I think that’s the starting point. We look at those things and then if we can make the adjustments that can be the best-selling vehicle in the segment.
“That’s our potential. That’s how we look at that – and that’s what we should achieve.”
To July this year the CR-V has notched up 3592 sales (down 11.2 per cent year-on-year), while the RAV4 – Toyota Australia’s top-selling model and the nation’s favourite SUV in 2024 – found 28,449 new homes (down 9.2 per cent).