New Civic under pressure to deliver: Honda

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Honda says the new Civic will see its sales increase by 25 per cent by the end of 2017.

Speaking at the launch of its latest car, Honda Australia director Stephen Collins says the brand is targeting a significant uptick in sales in 2016 – and the Civic is set to do the heavy lifting.  

"This year we'll sell 40,000 cars, next year we'll sell 50,000 cars – a lot of it has to do with Civic – that will be a big part of taking us from 40,000 to 50,000," he says.

"The expectation is pretty high – it's the biggest segment in the country, it's an iconic name within the industry and Honda.

"If that's pressure I guess there is a bit of that."

Collins says the brand's performance for the first half of the year has been hurt by a lack of supply. The previous-generation Civic is thin on the ground, while the new model is yet to arrive in large numbers.

Honda finished 10th on the sales charts last year, but it has dropped to 12th in 2016, delivering just 11,705 cars in the first quarter of the year.

Last year the Civic was only the 12th most popular small car.

"We should finish in the top 10 but we're not driven by it," Collins says.

"We don't compete in every single segment, we don't compete in rental cars and big, discount government deals."

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