Honda Cars Philippines Inc. (HCPI) is banking heavily on the all-new Honda BR-V to deliver a four-fold increase in market share in 2023.

The carmaker announced in a Nov. 21, 2022 press conference following the launch of the BR-V that it is looking to capture 20 percent of the small sport-utility vehicle (SUV) segment next year.

“The current market share for the BR-V, we have five percent of the small SUV segment,” said HCPI general manager for sales Louie Soriano. 

“Remember, we were the first one to release a model in the small SUV category, and, at the time, we were dominating the segment,” he added. “And we would like to do that again.”

Also Read: Shooting for the stars: Can the 2023 Honda BR-V take on the Hyundai Stargazer?

Soriano said around half of HCPI’s sales in 2023 will be the BR-V, with the Japanese carmaker expecting to sell up to 900 units a month of the seven-seat small SUV.

Soriano added that the base model BR-V with the 6-speed manual transmission would make up five percent of total sales.

“The demand is usually in the province; that's why we included a manual transmission,” he said.

HCPI also announced at the press conference that it doesn’t expect any inventory issues with the Indonesian-produced BR-V, unlike the delivery delays plaguing the HR-V crossover because of global parts shortages.

The BR-V was launched around two weeks after the official debut of the Hyundai Stargazer, which is expected to be Honda’s biggest rival in the small 7-seater segment.

Do you think the BR-V is good enough to reach HCPI’s sales target?