The increasing popularity of ‘fun’ motorcycles helping to boost Honda’s European sales by almost £1bn failed to stop the brand falling into the red during its latest financial year.
The Berkshire-headquartered European division achieved a revenue of £4.498bn for the year to 31 March, 2024, up from the £3.523bn it reported for the prior 12 months.
However, it went from posting a pre-tax profit of £71.1m to a loss of £29.8m, according to newly-filed accounts with Companies House.
Honda said its revenue increased because of more cars and motorbikes being sold and the consequential impact on its spare parts and finance divisions.
In the year Honda sold 70,000 cars, up from 66,000, helped by the launches of the ZR-V, e:Ny1, CR-V and ePHEV models.
It also sold 338,000 motorcycles, a rise from 273,000, with ‘fun’ bikes – XL750 and CB750 – boosting sales. Commuter bikes – SH150 and ADV350 – also performed well.
However, its power products division declined from 1.16m to 794,000 because of reduced demand for engines from the European Engine Centre.
A statement signed off by the board said: “The economic environment surrounding the company in the year… showed signs of recovery notwithstanding the competitive EV market conditions and the cost-of-living crisis impacting markets across the region.
“The cost-of-living crisis alongside the extreme weather conditions and the increasing uncertainty from from the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza created a challenging sales environment, however, the company reacted with strong customer offers and new product offerings that helped the European business finish in a strong position with the company’s customer order intake remaining strong.”
Honda added: “The second half of the year saw the resolution of the semi-conductor supply shortage situation although the company continued to experience logistic delays and shipping challenges due to geopolitical issues and other global events.
“Additional investors and supply management processes have been introduced to seek to minimise the impact on customer deliveries and company revenues whilst managing the company’s stock levels.”