Sales in the Japanese Market for February 2013

Source: world.honda.com

Honda is on track to regain the best seller in the mini-vehicle category. 

N BOX was the top selling car in Japan in the mini-vehicle category for the month of February 2013 with sales of 22,354 units. The N BOX was the number two best seller for the year of 2012. For February, the N-ONE was the sixth best-selling car with sales of 10,981 units. 

Meanwhile, Honda's automobile sales for February decrease for the second consecutive month year-on-year (since January 2013). This is in line with the decrease in new vehicle registrations for the seventh consecutive month year-on-year (since August 2012).

Fit was the fourth best-selling car with sales of 12,245 units while Freed was the eighth best-selling car with sales of 7,283 units. Step WGN was the ninth best-selling car with sales of 7,155 units.

Vehicle type		February 2013		Year-to-Date Total (Jan. - Feb. 2013)
		Units	vs.'12	Units	vs.'12
	Registrations	28,729	-43.0%	49,678	-47.5%
	Mini-Vehicles	37,664	+41.0%	72,357	+55.6%
Honda Brand Total		66,393	-13.9%	122,035	-13.6%

TIME TO FREED! HONDA MALAYSIA DEBUTS THE NEW FREED IN MALAYSIA.

Honda Malaysia Sdn Bhd today introduced the New Freed in Malaysia. This Best Urban MPV adopts Honda’s innovative technology that offers spaciousness, stylish design, advanced features and quality. The New Freed enhances both driver’s and passengers’ comfort with its practicality, improved features, interior and exterior design. These transformations make the improved version of Freed an even ideal car for young professional urban families, who aspire for a quality lifestyle.

Honda Malaysia Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Yoichiro Ueno said, “We are pleased to introduce the New Freed, which is a product that maximizes the joy of driving for Malaysian motorists. The latest Freed is a Completely Build-Up (CBU) unit from Indonesia. To-date, Honda Malaysia has sold over 2,500 units of Freed since its launch.”

The transformed Freed features a number of enhancements that cater to young professional urban families or professionals who appreciate spending time with family and friends, and also enjoy outdoor living. It comes with 5-speed auto transmission powered by 1.5L i-VTEC engine that promises fuel efficiency with lower gravity and stable run.

Providing premium comfort to both driver and passengers, the Grade E Freed is equipped with plush leather seats while the introduction of armrest on both sides are available in both Grade E and Grade S. The driver’s seat height adjuster further emphasizes comfort based on individual preference. The extraordinary feature of the Freed is its unique flat floor design for passengers to move easily in the car. Cargo loading and unloading is also made more convenient with the low tailgate opening.

Other features of the New Freed are as follow:

Exterior	Interior	Utility
·      Chrome Front Grille ·      Chrome Rear License Plate Garnish ·      Stylish Front Bumper ·      Sporty 15” Alloy Wheels	·      Dual Layer Dashboard with Chrome Plating ·      New Coloured Multi Layer Meter Cluster	·      Automatic Sliding Doors with Remote Control* ·      Walkthrough Cabin ·      Third Row Foldable Seats

Safety features that are available in this stylish Honda Freed MPV: dual front SRS airbags, 6-Star Japanese New Car Assessment Program (JNCAP), G-Force Control Technology (G-Con), Electronic Brakeforce Distribution (EBD), Advanced Compatibility Engineering (ACE) and Anti-Lock Braking System (ABS).

The New Honda Freed family car comes in two variants: Grade S and Grade E. The Grade S is available in Brilliant White Pearl, Polished Metal Metallic and Crystal Black Pearl, whereas Grade E comes in Brilliant White Pearl.

Honda Malaysia offers 5 years or sixty (60) months warranty with unlimited mileage, from the date of registration. This unlimited mileage warranty is applicable only when regular preventive maintenance is performed as per required intervals. Customers are also entitled to a Free Service Coupon (FSC) to enjoy up to six times of free labour charge during service. The FSC coupon is applicable for the 1,000km; 10,000km; 30,000km; 50,000km; 70,000km and 90,000km mileage service.

The Best Urban MPV Honda Freed offers a complete package of premium comfort, spacious cabin and best utility for the best quality travel experiences to owners. The on-the-road price of Freed S is RM 99,800 and Freed E is priced at RM 113,500.

It is time to Freed! Customers can test drive and place their booking for this latest Best Urban MPV at any authorized Honda dealers nationwide. For more information, please call Honda Toll Free number at 1-800-88-2020, or log on to www.honda.com.my.

New variant Honda Freed S launched.

The Honda Freed is one of Honda's newest models and is a well designed and equipped small sized MPV which seats up to 7. When it was first launched a few years ago, sales were hampered by a relatively high price. In the next step to enhancing sales of the Freed, Honda Malaysia has just launched the Freed S, a new variant with reduced specifications and at a much more affordable price, below the magical RM100k mark in fact. The primary change is the deletion of the motorized sliding door, replaced by a manually operated one. Other than this, all the other unique features of the Freed are still retained. The official Honda Malaysia press release for the Freed S is below.

   

HONDA MALAYSIA INTRODUCES A NEW AFFORDABLE FREED VARIANT, THE FREED S FOR URBAN FAMILIES

Petaling Jaya, 5 July 2012 - Honda Malaysia Sdn Bhd today introduced a new Freed variant, the Freed S in Malaysia. The new Freed S is a practical, comfortable and affordable compact Multi-Purpose Vehicle (MPV) featuring "4 seater + ideas" utilities, making it the ideal vehicle for young professional urban family or couple who appreciate quality traveling time together.

The new Freed S is a Complete Build-Up (CBU) unit from Indonesia. 'FREED' originates from the word 'Freedom' and combines the meaning of "Free" and "Do". As a result, the Freed is a vehicle, which is designed without restrictions of conventional thinking or standard practices. The unique futuristic aerodynamic triangle-shaped front is the result of its design concept. It provides a powerful one-motion silhouette that highlights an energetic sharp character line. It's square-shaped cabin enhances interior spaciousness for greater comfort.

Honda Malaysia Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Yoichiro Ueno said, "We are pleased to offer the new Freed S with the practicality, stylishness, and comfort of a Multi-Purpose Vehicle in an affordable package to Malaysians."

Young modern families will find its flat floor and roof design very practical as it creates more cabin space and head room to allow young kids and elderly to move around easily in it. The design of the flat floor is achieved through the use of an ingeniously built-under-floor fuel tank. The low floor is one step, only at 410mm from the floor. Combined with grip assist, this is a great feature that eases the elderly stepping into and out of the car. 

The best in class walkthrough cabin of the new Freed S features four captain seats in the first two rows with a 200mm-wide aisle to ease access. This also increases visibility for all passengers in the first two rows.

The seating of this affordable MPV is flexible and can be configured to accommodate up to seven passengers comfortably or create a more spacious cargo area depending on requirements.  The third row seats of the Freed S are foldable in just three steps for extra loading space. This versatile configuration and spaciousness makes traveling convenient and fun as it can easily accommodate different traveling purposes such as "balik kampung" during festive seasons, leisure activities or a family day out. It can nicely fit in a baby pram, luggage and a golf set, with room to spare. The 1,620 mm low tailgate opening makes it convenient to load and unload cargo.

The new Freed S boasts of innovative storage space and holders such as the illuminated centre tray, large door pockets, backrest hook and front seat back pockets. There are 7-cup holders in the Freed S, which means each of the passengers has their own cup holders.

The dual layer dashboard is designed to hold all controls neatly, keeping the centre free of obstruction and is strategically placed for easy reach.

The new Freed S comes with a 5-speed auto transmission, Drive-By-Wire for smoother ride, 1.5L i-VTEC engine that produces maximum power of 118PS/6,600 rpm, which can also reach the maximum torque of 146Nm/4,800 rpm. The manual sliding doors makes getting in and out easier without restriction especially in tight parking situation. The fuel lid auto lock safety system is a mechanism that prevents the manual sliding door from opening fully when the fuel lid is opened.

In the aspect of safety, the new Freed S features with dual front SRS airbags and seatbelt reminders for the driver. It is rated with 6-Stars JNCAP for both driver and passenger seat. The G-Force Control Technology (G-CON) helps disperse the crash impact across the body frame while the Advanced Compatibility Engineering (ACE) gives better crash compatibility with other cars, thus minimising injuries. The Anti-lock Braking System (ABS), Electrical Brakeforce Distribution (EBD), Brake Assist (BA) and Grade Logic Control are featured in the latest Freed S.

The full-imported new Freed S is available in Brilliant White Pearl, Polished Metal Metallic and Crystal Black Pearl at all Honda dealers now.

The Freed S is the smartest MPV choice, which is sleek, stylish and compact MPV, all in one package with on-the-road price tag of RM 99,800.00. Customers can test drive and place their booking for the new Freed S at any authorised Honda dealers nationwide. For more information, please call Honda Toll Free number at 1-800-88-2020, or log on to www.honda.com.my.

New Freed Hybrid variants go on sale in Japan

TOKYO, Japan, October 27, 2011 - Honda Motor Co., Ltd. announced it would begin sales of the all-new Freed Hybrid minivan and Freed Spike Hybrid tall wagon at dealerships across Japan on October 28, 2011. Like all models in the acclaimed Freed series, these new hybrids offer a spacious, comfortable interior and a large cargo area in a compact body. Both models will combine a smooth ride with outstanding fuel economy and affordable price, as with any Honda hybrid vehicle. The refreshed Freed and Freed Spike gasoline-engine models will also become available on October 28. Furthermore, Honda will launch a new range of Freed special-needs vehicles on November 25, including a wheelchair-accessible model with a newly developed electric winch, a side lift-up seat model, and a passenger lift-up seat model.

For the public news release, go to the Honda worldwide website at the link below:
http://world.honda.com/news/2011/4111027Freed-Hybrid/index.html?from=rR

Honda Freed and Freed Spike Hybrids

Concurrently, Honda has also announced hybrid versions of the Honda Freed and Freed Spike for Japan. The base Freed and Freed Spike uses a 1.5l SOHC i-VTEC engine and the new hybrid variants will also be using a 1.5l engine, i-VTEC with IMA. Again no other details are available at this moment in time. The relevant url is at

http://www.honda.co.jp/FREED/new/