China-based Honda R&D Investment has announced an investment to establish Honda Motorcycle Sales (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. with the main objective of selling medium and large displacement motorcycles in China. The new company was founded at the end of December 2023, will be based in Shanghai and is expected to start operations on April 1, 2024, according to information released by Western and Japanese media.
The news might even go unnoticed if it weren’t for the fact that the Chinese dealership is increasingly expanding into the 500 cc range and, moreover, sports bikes are very popular in this market with around 800,000 units a year in the over 200 cc segment.
In recent years, Chinese manufacturers have presented several sporty four-cylinder models at national shows, sometimes with engines and technical and styling solutions inspired by other Japanese or Western models. This commitment to four-cylinder sports models may have helped convince Honda to enter the market more decisively and directly with its own products, a choice that would lead it to face QJ Motor, VOGE, Kove or Zonsen, but also CFMOTO, which, in addition to the three-cylinder 675 for the world market, also has a 500 cc four-cylinder already presented as a prototype.
Honda is already present on the Chinese market with the CBR650R, a bike that has probably… inspired some competitors, but with this new company – according to rumors – something specific for the Chinese market is expected. No one can say at the moment which models will be chosen, which segments will be targeted and whether the bikes will have new designs or adaptations of existing designs. Only the start of the new company’s operations will clarify in which direction the Japanese giant intends to move.