Honda Motor plans to re-launch the Civic passenger car in Japan later this year after an absence of seven years, according to local reports.
The automaker ceased local production and sales of the model in 2010 due to flagging demand. But the company hopes that the new model’s popularity in overseas markets will help revive customer interest in its home market.
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The car will be assembled in Japan using existing capacity and may also be exported from Japan to North America as part of a global capacity re-shuffle. This would free up capacity in the US to produce more SUVs for the North America market where demand is strong.
A company official was quoted as saying that they will “consider political developments” in the US before a final decision is made.
Honda also hopes to re-establish its image as a manufacturer of sporty sedans in Japan, having focused mostly on SUVs, MPVs and mini-cars in the last decade.
