Honda is aiming for total global car sales of three million units in the next financial year, says company president Hiroyuki Yoshino.

At the company's end-of-year press conference, Mr Yoshino said that the targets had been made possible by car production capacity increases in Great Britain, North America, Canada and China. Plus, a new car plant is due to open in Malaysia in January 2002.

Honda expects to sell 2.67m units this year, up 5% on last year.

Mr Yoshino said that as Honda expected to achieve further cost competitiveness through market expansion in Asia, the company had decided to make the region a key supply station in its Global Supply Network for parts.

"In Europe, we would like to help achieve profitability by using high quality, low cost parts produced in Asia, in addition to increasing parts procurement in Continental Europe," he said.

"Looking at the business environment we face, certainly there is now a strong perception that the global economy has taken a downturn. However, we believe that no matter what the current times may bring, the important thing for Honda is to always conduct our business activities from the viewpoint of the customer. If we continue to pursue a path using our customers as our compass, the direction we should pursue will be very clear.” (December 20, 2001)