Honda’s joint venture company in China Guangzhou Honda Automobile Co., Ltd. has announced a new car brand called Li Nian, which is positioned much alike to what Toyota is doing with its Scion brand in the United States. A rough translation or meaning to Li Nian is “idea”, according to Guangzhou Honda.
The company displayed the Li Nian Concept at the 2008 Beijing International Automobile Exhibition, which is set to be one of the Li Nian brand’s first cars. The Li Nian Concept is a compact SUV-like vehicle based on the Honda Jazz / Honda Fit platform.
Unlike the Jazz/Fit’s L-series engines, the Li Nian Concept is powered by a 1.8 litre engine, most likely the R18A1 SOHC i-VTEC engine. It’s styling is decidedly European, with obvious cues taken from the Volkswagen iroc Concept and Ford’s new Kinetic design Fiesta and Kuga SUV.
Li Nian’s first production car will be based on this concept design, and will make its debut in 2010. The Li Nian Concept was designed entirely by Guangzhou Honda Automobile R&D, and while Honda Japan will support the company, most R&D, marketing and sales efforts will be initiated by the Chinese company.
After dabbling for years in the IT industry, Paul Tan initially began this site as a general blog covering various topics of personal interest. With an increasing number of readers paying rapt attention to the motoring stories, one thing led to another and the rest, as they say, is history. An avid electronic gadget aficionado as well as big-time coffee lover, he's also the executive producer of the Driven motoring TV programme.
wow, acura, honda and now li nian.
really diversifying huh.
hands down Ford Kuga looks nicer though. absolutely love the way it looks.
hm
feel like US company design
no honda feel at all
Wow. Can’t believe it is Chinese. Honda Cap Ayam.
honda chapalang..
but i have to say thou.. if this is Li Nian’s “Jazz”, it certainly looks better than what it intended to replace.. @.@
Toyota , Lexus , Scion;
Honda , Acura , Li Nian (?)
maybe i’m thinking too much.
btw the car resembles a bit of Ford Verve or Fiesta.
i guess that if you can’t beat them (China), then just join them.
Roti Naan said,
April 23, 2008 @ 10:26 am
i guess that if you can’t beat them (China), then just join them.
—————————————————————-
Yup, you are absolutely right, this is the best way to penetrate into the market.
Erm…
Same thing like Proton, EuropeStar,…?
Li Nian = Lenient?
okay.
this is enough edi.
see, major car manufacturers gone to china and then do something like ‘chinese special edition’
most american companies – caddy, GM, and some others – already launched their models specifically designed for China people.
whats happening actually?> market there BIG enough ka?
looks like a Ford, copycat….
I wonder if this is sustainable. Wat is the underlying fundamentals behind creating a new brand? Diversifying one’s portfolio can also mean acquiring other troubled brands as Ford once did and FAILED. In the case of Toyota, the Scion brand is not as hot as it once was which was an exercise of diversifying by creating a new brand. Thing is how long can it last? Truth be told, although BMW has been succesful with Mini, I dun see a good future for Mini. Think abt it, the new New Mini looks the same as the old New Mini. The clubman is stupid with one extra door and ambulance like booth. Basically even BMW has run out of ideas for Mini. So i think this decision by Honda will not last long.
it looks like verve…bt verve still better look…
this car is futuristic bt they hd to enhance it a little bit…so..mabe it will looks better
Wow.. this could be the only China car that I’d consider buying.
lol… really looked like a ford verve. even the humps that run from the A pillars to the bonnet is similar… come on honda, u can do better than that…
looks a lot like the Kuga concept. Maybe car makers are running out of ideas
drM, you wanna question China’s market? you think proton can sustain in the open market without any ‘protection’? or are you just jealous and voicing out your grievances here?
i think its a way of honda’s to get away with being sued by ford. say its designed mainly by the chinese company.
i dont like china anyway.
between a car made in china and malaysia, i’d say i’ll take the malaysia one. Not because i’m feeling patriotic but for me the progress is like this: China>India>Malaysia>Korea>Japan,i might be wrong but this means honda has both ends covered
i dont really agree with some of your points k_templar.
This is a case of honda working with a partner. its not honda themselves going in with a different brand. Honda still continues to sell their cars, but most likely at a different market segment. Its not unlike perodua and toyota/daihatsu in malaysia. Perodua handles the low end of the market for them, toyota takes the middle part of the market, and lexus handles the high end of the market. its well known in the marketing world today, that one brand alone cant do the job if you want more of the pie. Just because Scion didnt do as well as it could, lexus is a raging success for toyota.
There are differences again with bmw and mini. Bmw didnt create a new brand, they created new products and used the iconic mini brand to sell them.a brand recognised the world over. Building brands can be a long, tough and extremely expensive thing to do, and still no gurantee of success. Buying a brand like mini for bmw, is considered a bargain.
the funny thing is, its only your opinion that the mini looks odd, and bmw has run out of ideas etc., but their sales today is higher than ever. so who are you to say they are doing something wrong and their future looks bleak?
Li Nian?
Never drive anything that sounds like an expired pickled fruit. May cause you a cirit-birit.
you wont have to worry unless of course you move to china, since its only for the china market.