Honda Begins Exporting Chinese-Made Jazz Compact Cars to Europe

SHANGHAI, China June 24,2005; The AP reported that Japanese automaker Honda Motor Co. said it began on Friday exporting Chinese-made Jazz compacts to Europe.

Honda executives and local Chinese officials attended a ceremony to see off the first shipment of 150 cars at the southern port of Guangzhou, the company said in a statement.

Honda said it expects its Chinese joint venture with China's Guangzhou Auto Group Co., Ltd. and Dongfeng Motor Group Co., Ltd. to produce 10,000 of the cars this year, all of which will be exported to Germany and other European markets.

The company said it is "leveraging the production know-how and parts procurement network established by Honda's existing automobile production joint ventures."

Honda is the first company to begin full-scale exports of Chinese-made cars to Europe. Its Chinese joint venture, Honda Automobile (China) Co., Ltd. was established in September 2003 with an investment of $82 million and has an annual production capacity of 50,000 cars. Production of the Jazz in Guangzhou began in April.

Despite a recent boom in private car buying, China's auto sector saw profits slide 57 percent in the first four months of this year due to sluggish sales and rising costs.