Honda seeks green edge with fuel efficiency drive

Nicholas Goh, head of marketing at Kah Motor Company, Honda’s distributor in Singapore, argued the initiative “differentiates Honda’s cars from our competitors”, which include BMW and Mercedes, as well as other Japanese marques such as Mitsubishi and Toyota. Honda and Toyota lead the Singapore car market. He added that drivers should “appreciate each and every drop of fuel”.

“Honda will achieve environmental leadership by introducing and selling highly competitive products with excellent environmental performance,” said Tan Kheng Hwee, GM at Kah.

The campaign was piloted in Singapore in the last week of July through print, online and point-of-sale activity, created by Wieden & Kennedy Tokyo.

Regionally, the work is slated to feature on CNN and CNN.com, ESPN Star Sports and in Time magazine.
The campaign’s 30-second TV spot features drops of fuel combusting in a Honda Civic engine, making the car race ahead to its destination. Meanwhile, a website keeps track of fuel consumption for consumers driving in different countries in Asia and features a travel blog by Singaporean celebrity Allan Wu.

In Japan, Honda recently announced record profits of 179.6 billion yen (US$1.68 billion) in its first quarter of 2008, up 8.1 per cent on 2007 thanks to strong sales growth in new markets, and despite a strong yen and high material costs. Even so, Japan’s number two automaker has slashed vehicle sales estimates for the fiscal year to March 2009, to 4.08 million cars, due to faltering sales in the US.