GAC-Honda Joint Venture Pulls Acura Premium Brand From China

Chinese automaker GAC’s joint venture with Honda has announced it will halt producing and selling vehicles under the Japanese firm’s premium Acura brand.

GAC, making the announcement on Monday, said will continue to provide after-sales services to Acura customers in China through the joint venture’s network – and the joint venture will continue to produce other Honda brands.

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Acura is the second foreign car brand to be pulled from China, the world’s largest auto market, in recent months.

In October GAC said it was closing its joint venture with Stellantis, which made Jeep vehicles, following a sharp decline in Jeep sales in China over the past four years.

GAC-Honda, which started producing Acura cars in 2016 in China, only sold 6,554 of them in the country in 2021, down 45% from the previous year.

Reuters with additional editing by Sean O’Meara

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Sean O'Meara

Sean O'Meara is an Editor at Asia Financial. He has been a newspaper man for more than 30 years, working at local, regional and national titles in the UK as a writer, sub-editor, page designer and print editor. A football, cricket and rugby fan, he has a particular interest in sports finance.