Honda Reports Q3 2013-2014 Sales Results

Honda reported an 11.4% increase in sales volume and 30.0% increase in net sales revenue from its motorcycle business in the third quarter ended Dec. 31, 2013.

The industry giant sold 4.25 million motorcycles over the quarter compared to sales of 3.82 motorcycles in the same quarter the previous year. Honda has now sold more than four million motorcycles for the three consecutive quarters.

Honda reported a small year-over-year increase motorcycle sales in North America to 63,000 units from 62,000, as well as in Japan (up to 52,000 from 51,000). These gains offset a decrease in sales in Europe, where customers bought 27,000 units compared to 29,000 units in the previous third quarter.

The big difference maker was Asia where Honda sold 3.68 million motorcycles over the third quarter, up 14.0% from the 3.23 million sold in the same quarter last year. Sales were buoyed by a strong demand for the Dream Neo, Activa and Activa I models in India, and the CB150R, Verza 150 and BeAT FI series in Indonesia.

The increased sales resulted in net sales of 400.1 billion yen (US$3.9 billion) for the motorcycle division, a 30.0% increase from 307.8 billion yen in the year before (though to be fair, a big part of the increase stemmed from positive currency effects on the Japanese yen.) Operating income from Honda’s motorcycle business in the third quarter increased 51.4% to 34.5 billion yen from 22.8 billion yen.

Overall, Honda Motor Co. reported a net profit of 160.7 billion yen (US$1.57 billion) over the third quarter, compared to 77.4 billion yen in the same quarter in the previous year.

While the third quarter news is mostly positive, Honda foresees a decrease in demand for the fourth quarter for both motorcycles and automobiles. Honda reduced its year-end sales forecast to 17.095 million motorcycles from 17.390 million units.

[Source: Honda]

By Dennis Chung