Honda has already announced it will bring its gas-electric hybrid vehicles to the Chinese market. Those include the CR-Z, Insight, Fit Hybrid and the Acura NSX as part of a big-picture shift to China that also includes Honda’s potential plans to move some design and component sourcing to that country. There’s one more piece to the puzzle. With the Beijing Motor Show taking place this week, Honda is announcing it will offer up its hybrid technology to domestic automakers
The Nikkei reports the most likely first recipients of Honda’s IMA (Integrated Motor Assist) hybrid technologies will be its joint venture partners Dongfeng Motor Corporation and Guangzhou Automobile Group. As in other markets, Honda’s hybrid sales have fallen behind other automakers in China, and Nikkei says this technology move is a way to try and “orchestrate a turnaround.” As one unnamed Honda executive told the Nikkei, “We hope that other automakers will use our IMA technologies. We want to set industry standards for hybrid technologies in the world’s biggest car market.”
