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Honda to Recall about 425 Acura Cars in China

Japanese automotive giant Honda Motor Co. will recall about 425 cars under the luxury brand of Acura in China.

Honda Motor (China) Investment Co., Ltd., a subsidiary wholly-owned by Honda with responsibilities for the sales the Acura brand, has submitted a report to China’s General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine to recall a portion of the 2006 version of import Acura TL cars beginning March 26, 2008.

These cars, produced between June 22, 2005 and September 27, 2006 and sold to Chinese customers, are reported to have some defect in the power steering system.

As for the defective cars, buyers can change acrylonitrile butadiene rubber (NBR) power steering system to hydrogenated NBR power steering system, which boasts better heat-resistant function, for free, promised Honda Motor (China) Investment Co. Moreover, they can get a heat-resistant cover to lower the temperature of the power system.

For the moment, the TL model, which meets the Chinese standards, has ceased production and it will not be exported to the world’s second large auto market any more.

The Acura brand was first introduced to China in September 2006 and its RL and TL models had not met their sales goal in the country by the end of May 2007.

Acura MDX, a mid-size luxury crossover SUV, was launched in mid-2007 in the country, which proved a turning point for the brand, whose sales rocketed over 300 percent to more than 900 units during the second half of last year.

Driven by the good performance of MDX, Honda has picked up building sales network for the brand in the country. It set up a franchised store in Hangzhou, capital of East China’s Zhejiang Province, on January 22, 2008 and is building more in such cities as Beijing.

The Japanese auto giant planned to sell 2,500 Acura-branded cars in China in 2008, or an 80 percent surge over 2007, earlier reports said. China??s luxury SUV market saw an average sales growth of over 25 percent last year.

In addition to SUVs, Honda has bet big on other vehicles in China. Guangzhou Honda Automobile Co., Ltd., a joint venture between Honda and China’s Guangzhou Automobile Industry Group Co., Ltd., will launch its first independent-branded concept vehicle in April 2008, and make public the proprietary brand strategy as well as the trademark.

Dongfeng Honda Automobile Co., Ltd., another China venture of Honda, plans to bring in new models in a bid to enrich its product portfolio. This year, it will start to build two- compartment CR-V, a SUV model.