Honda Brio off Aussie list

It was only launched last month, at the Tokyo motor show, but Honda Australia says the car will not meet local safety regulations for at least another five years.

That's the time it will take for a scheduled renewal of the Brio to be updated sufficiently for Australia. "It won't come in this generation. It is at least four or five years ago," the managing director of Honda Australia, Satoshi Matsuzawa, tells Carsguide.

He admits Honda would like a car to sit below the Jazz in both size and price, and that Honda Australia has been studying both the Brio project and the trend towards smaller cars.

"We have to judge if the current trend from the large car to the small car continues to the class below Jazz. It could be very important in the Australian market," Matsuzawa says. "For daily use there is no need to drive big cars. But the trend could shift, so we have to keep monitoring."

He says the Brio cannot meet current Australian Design Rules, mostly likely on safety, although he does not go into detail. "The current design is dedicated for India and Thailand, which is difficult to meet for the ADRs. It is important to keep monitoring the market trends . .  . and stay current on the ADR compliance."

Even without the Brio as a price fighter, Matsuzawa predicts a big lift in Honda's sales in 2012 after major price cuts across the lineup. It could be more than 10 per cent, after a double-digit drop through 2011. "Next year I would like to get back to at least 40,000," he says.

Matsuzawa says the key to the recovery is a return to normal supply from Honda's factory in Thailand, as well as two key new models. "Civic comes in March. Just the four-door, but it comes with the hybrid. This is the alternative sourcing from Japan, not Thailand," he says.

"Civic Hatch will be the middle of the year. CR-V, also, we expect to have in the middle of next year. But in the case of CR-V it depends on the process of the recovery at the Thailand factory."