Providing good products to customers worldwide with speed, affordability and low CO₂ emissions

As public awareness of environmental issues has increased in recent years in all corners of the earth, the competition in environmental technology has stepped up everywhere. The global economy has also been undergoing a major structural shift, seeing the center of economic activity gradually migrate from developed to emerging countries. Against this backdrop, the trends toward electromotive technology, smaller sized vehicles, and lower prices are gaining pace in every automobile market around the world, ushering in an era where customers now carefully select what they really want before making a purchase.

In the face of today's major changes, Honda has kept up its efforts to provide timely and well-directed solutions to the diverse needs of society and our customers. Through research and development, we have worked vigorously to create advanced technologies that fulfill safety and environmental requirements while enriching product appeal. Through production, we have pursued further cost reductions and strengthened our manufacturing structure in response to the changing trends in global demand. Through sales, we have enhanced our product lineup through introduction of new products that offer unprecedented value, and also by supplying our products across different countries and regions. Bringing it all together, Honda delivered motorcycles, automobiles and power products to about 27 million customers around the world in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011.

Last year, Honda determined that "Providing good products to customers worldwide with speed, affordability and low CO₂ emissions" will direct the company over its next 10 years leading up to 2020. Providing good products means providing what customers need in the form of attractive products created with unique Honda technologies, creativity and ingenuity. The way that Honda should now proceed is to deliver these good and attractive products to our customers with speed and without delay, at prices that give them the joy of buying, allowing them to say, "I'm really happy I bought this product." Our devotion to low CO₂ emissions arises from the strong sense of urgency we feel that "unless CO₂ emissions can be substantially lowered, there will be little future for Honda as a manufacturer of personal mobility products." To achieve our long-term goals, we at Honda will evolve our unique, state-of-the-art environmental technologies to swiftly develop and popularize products that appeal to our customers. To meet these goals, we will also strengthen our manufacturing ability that is unique to Honda, focusing on strengthening the business in emerging markets and boosting the competitive appeal of our compact models. While moving forward with deliberate speed, we will reinforce our corporate structure to propel us to the next stage of growth.

We at Honda will keep tackling our never-ending challenge to offer products through which we can share joy and satisfaction with people around the world, as a company that society wants to exist.

June 2011

Takanobu Ito, President, CEO and Representative Director