Honda will make quality a priority rather than chase its 2016 target of selling 6m cars, chief executive officer Takanobu Ito told reporters in Tokyo at the weekend.

His comments, at an event to launch the hybrid version of the Legend saloon, came as Honda and nine other automakers in the US recall millions of cars fitted with potentially defective airbags made by Takata.

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“My heart aches over the fact that our customers have been injured or killed in our products with air bags,” Ito told Reuters.

“We are, as are other companies, conducting regional recalls in the southern states of the United States and analysing the data. What we need to do first is to get those results and take appropriate action.”

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