其他服務業Business News

We have already gotten used to the idea that Japanese automakers have either completely left or stopped deliveries of cars to Russia, keeping only the work of dealer service stations. Therefore, the news that sales of Honda cars have resumed in our country came as a real surprise.

Honda announced its upcoming withdrawal from Russia long before the CBO: the Japanese planned to completely curtail the supply of new cars by 2022, while maintaining service support for dealers and customers. But in fact, the flow of new Hondas dried up even earlier. There were only cases of single imports of cars under the order by the dealers themselves. Yes, and those came to naught, after Japan introduced a ban on the supply of new cars to Russia more expensive than $ 50,000 and spare parts for them. And now, unexpectedly opened a new showroom Honda in St. Petersburg.

Motor Place is a sub-distributor of Honda Motor Rus. Moreover, both companies are registered at the same address! But officially, it is Motor Place that is now responsible for the import, sale and maintenance of Honda cars in our country. Interestingly, the Honda model range currently available in Russia is many times wider than it was two years ago.

The company “Zvezda Nevy” is a dealer of Motor Place. General Director of Zvezda Nevy, LLC Valery Ryzhki said that  more than half of the Honda models available at the dealership have not been officially sold in Russia before. The presented wide model range of the manufacturer will be of interest to fans of the brand and those motorists who are looking for a replacement for brands that have left Russia, including premium ones.  The company  offer cars with a guarantee, officially delivered to Russia, we have the necessary resources and experience to provide a premium level of customer service. Honda becomes one of the leaders among all brands in St. Petersburg in terms of the number of models presented. And by autumn they  plan to expand the model mix.

If earlier buyers had to choose between the Honda CR-V and Pilot, now they are offered as many as eight models! These are the Civic and Accord sedans, the Odyssey minivan, as well as five crossovers: the compact Vezel and ZR-V, the large UR-V cross-coupe, and the CR-V, of two (5th and 6th) generations at once. All cars are brought to Russia from China, which is now the number 1 market for Honda in the world. Yes, and global deliveries of Honda cars from the Middle Kingdom have been carried out for a long time: Chinese-assembled Jazz was once delivered to us.

Prices are expectedly high, but Honda in Russia has not been an affordable brand for a long time. It is clear that a Civic for 4 million rubles or an Accord for 5 million will be of interest to a few, but the crossover line looks more interesting in this regard. So Vezel and ZR-V can be taken for 3.6-4 million rubles, depending on the configuration. The 5th generation Honda CR-V, well known to Russians, costs 4.3-4.8 million rubles, and the new 6th generation model costs 5.4-6.3 million. By the end of summer, Honda Jazz may return to Russia, and in the fall, an electric automobile is expected, although a final decision has not yet been made.

Prices without discounts:

• Civic - 4,490,000 rubles;

• Accord — 4,990,000 rubles;

• CR-V — 5,690,000 rubles;

• UR-V — 6,590,000 rubles;

• ZR-V — 4,090,000 rubles;

• Vezel — 3,990,000 rubles.

 This is not about parallel imports, in which some Russian auto holdings succeeded, buying hundreds of new Mazda, Toyota, VW and Skoda cars in China, and then selling them in Russia under the guise of used with a conditional warranty from the dealer or paid "insurance" from breakdowns. In the case of Honda, deliveries go through the official channel. Although such cars are presented on the Russian Honda website in the Approved section, which was created for used cars, they are sold to customers as new. This is important, because in this case the buyer falls under the consumer protection law and in the event of a repair delay of more than 45 days, the owner can return the car to the dealer and receive the money paid for it (plus a penalty) back.

For the dealer, this is a certain risk, but the sub-distributor (the company Motor Sales)    promises that there will be no problems. All cars are provided with a factory warranty of 3 years or 100,000 km, as well as full service support, including the supply of spare parts from the central Russian warehouse. And we are talking not only about consumables, but also body parts. Well, not the most popular spare parts will be brought by plane from China in up to two weeks. Dealers are also provided with branded service equipment connected to Honda's global network - just like in the good old days. Even registering a new ignition key here will not be a problem, although the owner of a Mercedes-Benz cannot do this in Russia for any money.

Of course, such a quick restart of sales and the launch of a wide range of models has its own nuances. The cars were not specially prepared for Russia, and all the dealer does, apart from the standard “pre-sale”, is stick warning labels in Russian. Instead of the usual Apple CarPlay with Android Auto, there is a Chinese analogue of Baidu CarLife, but this is “treated” by installing a special electronic unit at the dealer. By the way, this partially solves the problem with the lack of russification of the media center - navigation and other applications launched from a mobile phone will be in Russian. According to a representative of the dealership, the Japanese promise to completely translate the menu of media centers and dashboards later. By the way, the 5th generation Honda CR-V is deprived of this problem, since it was originally produced in the specification for Russia.

Sales plans are still small - the St. Petersburg dealer expects to sell 20 cars per month. If Motor Place launches a subsidized loan program, sales will be more fun. But this is not bad either: against the backdrop of the dominance of Chinese brands, the opportunity to buy a new Japanese car with an official guarantee is like a breath of fresh air for Russians. Perhaps, other automakers from “unfriendly” countries will also be inspired by the example of Honda, which have not gone anywhere and continue to provide service support to their customers, but do not import new cars. It is clear that you will have to overpay for the brand, but this is alternative to choosing between the domestic and Chinese auto products.

Source: https://5koleso.ru/articles/obzory/honda-po-hitromu-vernulas-v-rossiyu-s-kuchej-novinok-i-zavodskoj-garantiej/?ysclid=lj6tm3opnh279801802