A ‘premium’ position, affordable servicing, parts availability, and high resale are all why Honda reckons you should consider it over a new brand.
Honda is facing a battle with encroaching Chinese brands that are often more affordable and packed with equipment, but the Australian boss believes the Japanese marque’s ‘premium’ position will help it stave off competition.
When asked by Drive where the brand sees itself in the market, Honda Australia President and CEO Jay Joseph said it is in a special position to balance quality with affordability.
“Globally, Honda occupies a unique space as a premium mainstream brand, it’s in our corporate philosophy that we provide products of high value and high quality to our customers,” Joseph said.
“We’ve earned this niche of not just being a mainstream brand that is just selling volume on price, but because of the inherent qualities and unique qualities of our products – we’ve earned a spot where they are premium mainstream products.
“Honda is not trying to reposition itself as a luxury brand, that is not an aspiration, in the States we have Acura that does that quite well.
“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, not just the price, but it is how we take care of our customers.”
This reputation is also one of the beliefs Joseph said is going to safeguard Honda from new-car brands – mainly from China – stealing sales or conquesting its customer base.
“If you are looking at one of the newer entrants, we read stories all the time about how you might have a repair delay for weeks or more because the part you need is not available,” Joseph said.
“I can’t say we’re perfect in that space, but we’re pretty damn good.
“We’ve got a well-established national network, we can get any part to any of our dealers within a day, and get that customer taken care of and back on the road.
“That’s the trust that we have earned with our customers and we seek to maintain, and that’s worth something.”
Aside from quick repairs and quality, Honda is also talking up its comprehensive aftersales plan which includes an eight-year warranty and five-years’ capped price service at $199 per annum.
Finally, Joseph said better resale value compared to the new-brand competition also gives customers peace of mind when buying a Honda.
Last year, Honda finished in 19th place on the new-vehicle sales charts, behind newer brands like BYD, MG, an GWM, but the Japanese brand has plans lift its tally with fresh metal from 2026 onwards.
Tung Nguyen has been in the automotive journalism industry for over a decade, cutting his teeth at various publications before finding himself at Drive in 2024. With experience in news, feature, review, and advice writing, as well as video presentation skills, Tung is a do-it-all content creator. Tung’s love of cars first started as a child watching Transformers on Saturday mornings, as well as countless hours on PlayStation’s Gran Turismo, meaning his dream car is a Nissan GT-R, with a Liberty Walk widebody kit, of course.
