Would you like to see these Hondas in the Netherlands?
One of Honda’s biggest sales booms is as small as it is successful. In its home country of Japan, Honda celebrates having produced no fewer than 3.5 million N-series cars. About two-thirds of this is accounted for by just one model variant: the N-Box.
The ardent visitor to AutoWeek.nl will undoubtedly be aware that we do not only highlight cars that are available in the Netherlands. Those whose interest is only aroused by new cars relevant to the Dutch market may do well to move their mouse to the right corner of the screen. The Hondas that play a role in this article are not only not for sale in Europe, but are even sold almost exclusively in Japan. But in large numbers.
From left to right: the Honda N-Van, N-One, N-Box and N-Wgn.
Like almost every other Japanese car manufacturer, Honda supplies a range of kei cars in its home country. Those tiny and often cleverly arranged little ones are a maximum of 3.4 meters long and may not only have a maximum 660 cc large power source, but also a maximum of 64 hp. These little ones with less tax burden exist in various forms. From small hatchbacks to narrow high rascals in the style of the Daihatsu Move, also sold in the Netherlands. In December 2011, Honda introduced the first generation of the N-Box and now Honda has brought all its kei cars together under the N-series. This consists not only of the N-Box, but also of the N-One, the N-WGN and the N-Van. In more than 11 years that the N series has existed, that family of clever Hondaatjes has sold more than 3.5 million copies, Honda proudly reports.
Honda N-Box: also as a tough Custom.
Until March 2023, Honda has sold 3,523,285 little ones of the N series. The absolute top seller is the Honda N-Box, of which a total of 2,368,450 units have been sold up to and including March 2023. This means that the N-Box within the N-Series has a share of no less than 67 percent. The N-Box was Japan’s most popular kei-car for the eighth consecutive year in 2022 and the country’s most popular new car for the second time in a row. Honda has also included the sales results of the N-Box Slash in the N-Box figures. That model delivered between 2014 and 2020 was in fact a first-generation N-Box with a rising window line and a lower roof. The current N-Box – generation two – arrived in 2017 and went under the knife in 2020.
The N-One is the most retro-like of the bunch, complete with references to the N360.
With its introduction year 2012, the lower and with cheerful retro design overloaded N-One is a year shorter than the N-Box, but with a total of 296,476 units sold, it is significantly less popular. In 2020, Honda conjured up the current second-generation N-One. The N-WGN – which, like the N-One, has no sliding doors but is higher than that hatchback – appeared on the scene in 2013 and has sold 687,812 units up to and including March 2023. The Japanese kei buyer therefore seems to go for as much interior space as possible. Commercial vehicle N-Van – the order version of the N-Box – has sold 170,547 units since its arrival in 2018. Based on the N-Van, Honda will also launch a small electric kei commercial vehicle next year.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl