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Automotive

Honda "Concept M" MPV heads for the Chinese market

By David Szondy
April 21, 2013
Honda "Concept M" MPV heads for the Chinese market
The Honda Concept M on display at Auto Shanghai 2013
The Honda Concept M on display at Auto Shanghai 2013
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Honda Concept M is an MPV
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Honda Concept M is an MPV
The Honda Concept M on display at Auto Shanghai 2013
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The Honda Concept M on display at Auto Shanghai 2013
Honda Concept M was designed with the Chinese market in mind
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Honda Concept M was designed with the Chinese market in mind
The Honda Concept M is scheduled to go on sale next year
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The Honda Concept M is scheduled to go on sale next year
Honda Concept M is one of three Honda concepts aimed at the Chinese market
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Honda Concept M is one of three Honda concepts aimed at the Chinese market
Honda Concept M was designed by Honda's Automobile R&D Center
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Honda Concept M was designed by Honda's Automobile R&D Center
Honda Concept M rear view
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Honda Concept M rear view
The Honda Crider
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The Honda Crider
Honda Crider goes on sale in June
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Honda Crider goes on sale in June
The Honda Jade
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The Honda Jade
Honda Jade is based on a piece of carved jade
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Honda Jade is based on a piece of carved jade
Honda Jade goes on sale in September
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Honda Jade goes on sale in September
The Honda Concept M is scheduled to go on sale next year
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The Honda Concept M is scheduled to go on sale next year
The Honda Crider
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The Honda Crider
The Honda Jade
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The Honda Jade
View gallery - 15 images

Honda is determined to secure a slice of the growing Chinese motoring market with no less than three concept vehicles set to go into production in the near future. While details are scant, the company used Auto Shanghai 2013 to showcase its “Concept M” Multi-Purpose Vehicle (MPV), which is due to go on sale in China starting next year.

Concept M

The Honda Concept M is scheduled to go on sale next year
The Honda Concept M is scheduled to go on sale next year

MPVs have made inroads into the Chinese market, but most of those sold have been to the commercial sector. Designed specifically for the Chinese market by its Automobile R&D Center Honda says the “new value” Concept M is an MPV with the attributes of a passenger car, including a spacious cabin.

Crider

The Honda Crider
The Honda Crider

Another Honda concept car heading for production is the Crider, which is based on the Concept C that Honda showed last year at the Beijing Motor Show. Its design is based on the image of a dragon and was also designed with the Chinese market in mind. Honda claims that its performance exceeds any other car in its class and says that the Crider will go on sale from the Guangqi Honda Automobile Co., Ltd. in June.

Jade

The Honda Jade
The Honda Jade

Derived from Honda’s Concept S, the Jade takes its inspiration from (no prizes) jade – hence its green paint job – and is another car aimed at the Chinese market. In this case, it is aimed at Chinese customers born in the 1980s and is scheduled to go on sale in September.

Auto Shanghai 2013 runs April 23 to 29.

The video below introduces the Honda Concept M.

Source: Honda

View gallery - 15 images

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AutomotiveConcept CarsHondaCarShanghai Auto Show 2013
5 comments
David Szondy
David Szondy
David Szondy is a playwright, author and journalist based in Seattle, Washington. A retired field archaeologist and university lecturer, he has a background in the history of science, technology, and medicine with a particular emphasis on aerospace, military, and cybernetic subjects. In addition, he is the author of four award-winning plays, a novel, reviews, and a plethora of scholarly works ranging from industrial archaeology to law. David has worked as a feature writer for many international magazines and has been a feature writer for New Atlas since 2011.

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5 comments
Australian
Nice to see more designs and innovation. I hope the Chinese market has a heavy skew towards electric vehicles. The amount of vehicles they stand to have on their roads along with the amount of polution they could produce is staggering. With world oil consumption trending up, there emerging markets of China and India will prove insatisable. If we consume all of the readily available oil reserves (which is inevitable over time) we can expect a lot more pain and it could end in more conflict and wars over dwindling reserves. Humans are inately greedy. If we don't transfer to a new energy economy like electric cars, the future will be far from rosy.
Slowburn
I have lived in the Denver CO metro area for more than forty years and remember the choking smog of the 1970s today with twice the population when the air quality standards are violated it is not automobile exhaust that is the culprit its dust. If the engines have proper emission controls the pollution from modern ICE powered cars is trivial. Storing electricity, or turning food into fuel will never be the good way of powering cars but while wind and solar are lousy ways of producing on demand electricity combined with the right industrial facilities they might be efficient enough to produce liquid motor fuel out of air and water and other high energy input chemical products on a when powers available basis. Industrial scale armed robbery will happen again. The armed thugs launching them will tell the people that it is for oil, water, honer, food, or living space. They will actually be about delusions of power, greed, or distracting the population from the disastrous results of social or economic policies that have failed ever previous time they have been tried as well.
Daishi
@Australian The wealthy still buy luxury cars but most people in China still have limited income.
I saw an article recently where the Fiat CEO said they lose $10,000 on each 500e (electric) sold. I am not sure how much they are selling them for in other regions but the US price is $31,800 which would put the total cost well outside what is affordable for most working people in China. The gas powered version is $16,000 and presumably profitable at that price range.
I don't have current numbers for others but I have heard other manufacturers are generally selling their EV's at a loss as well. The battery alone in the Nissan LEAF was quoted at $18,000 in 2010.
So as much as it would benefit everyone if EV's became popular in China, unless there is a huge government push for it it seems very unlikely.
Slowburn
re; Diachi
Everybody but the Chinese.
Don Duncan
I would like to know why any company would produce a product at a loss. Is there a hidden govt. subsidy? That would be my guess. Wait, I have it. The govt. is threatening to pass a law requiring an EV so they make one that is impractical so they can prove EVs are not viable. Meanwhile, companies like Aptera get crushed by red tape.