Honda gets aggressive with range of new models

The company began accepting orders for the 1.8-liter Crider, produced at Guangqi Honda, on April 19, and it will go on sale starting in June.

Guangqi Honda will also launch a new Everus S1 compact sedan in May.

Created in 2008, the Everus is the joint venture's wholly owned brand.

Toshiaki Mikoshiba, president of Guangqi Honda, said these new products will help the joint venture increase sales in coming years.

By 2020, the joint venture is hoping to achieve 1 million units in annual sales, or more than triple the total for last year.

It sold 316,000 cars in 2012, a decline of 12.7 percent, as a result of an aggressive new product offensive by competitors and an anti-Japan backlash among consumers resulting from territorial disputes over the Diaoyu Islands between China and Japan.

Honda's overall sales in China tumbled by 3.1 percent to 599,000 units last year.

The Jade will be built at the company's other joint venture, Dongfeng Honda, and will hit the market in September.

The Concept M's production model is expected to go on sale in China next year, according to Honda, though the company did not reveal which joint venture will produce it.