- Honda plans to export its China-made e:NS2 pure electric vehicle to Japan and revive the Insight brand to expand its domestic EV lineup.
- This move also aims to utilize idle capacity at Chinese factories to counter the sharp sales decline in China.
Honda Motor is planning to export pure electric vehicles produced at its Chinese joint venture factory to its home market of Japan for the first time.
The e:NS2 pure electric model, manufactured at Dongfeng Honda's No. 1 plant, is expected to officially go on sale in Japan as early as the spring of 2026, according to a Thursday report by local media outlet Lanjinger.
Upon its introduction to the Japanese market, the model will revive the discontinued classic Insight nameplate, with priority pre-orders scheduled to open on March 19 this year, the report said.
Notably, this will mark the first time a major Japanese automaker officially sells pure electric passenger vehicles manufactured in Chinese factories in its home market.
The export of the Dongfeng Honda e:NS2 to Japan will be limited to a total of 3,000 units, according to the report.
The model features a 68.8-kWh battery pack supplied by CATL (HKG: 3750, SHE: 300750), delivering a range of 545 kilometers. Its official starting price in China is 159,800 yuan ($23,190).
Nikkei Asia first reported Honda's plan yesterday, stating that the Japanese automaker aims to rapidly expand its relatively weak EV lineup in its home market and improve the utilization rate of its underperforming factories in China.
Honda currently has only two micro EV models on sale in Japan — the "N-ONE e:" and "N-VAN e:" — and is facing immense market pressure from foreign and domestic competitors such as Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) and Toyota.
The China-made new car will become Honda's longest-range product in the Japanese market, a move management hopes will drive a strategic counteroffensive at home, the Nikkei Asia report noted.
On the other hand, this cross-border export plan will also significantly help Honda effectively boost the increasingly low capacity utilization at its Chinese auto plants.
With the rise of local Chinese automakers such as BYD Co. (HKG: 1211, OTCMKTS: BYDDY) and Geely Auto (HKG: 0175, OTCMKTS: GELYF), Honda's overall sales performance and market share in China remain under sustained pressure.
In 2025, Honda's new car sales in China dropped 24% year-on-year to 645,345 units, marking the fifth consecutive year of sales decline in the country.
($1 = 6.8918 yuan)
