• by Tanya Gazdik , January 25, 2023

American Honda is aiming for a sales increases of 20% to 25% over its portfolio of brands in 2023. 

The automaker provided an outlook on its U.S. automobile business for 2023 during a media briefing with vice president of sales, Mamadou Diallo.

Diallo is taking over for Dave Gardner, a longtime Honda executive within the company's North American automobile operations, who will retire as executive vice president of national operations, effective April 1. Diallo will be promoted to senior vice president and assume full responsibility for auto sales, including both the Honda and Acura sales organizations, sales planning, logistics, sales strategy and a new product communications division.

With increased production in 2023, the Honda brand is expected to realize sales of up to 1.2 million units, and the Acura brand will aim for 160,000 units. This will mean an increase ranging from 20%-25% over 2022.

"Like the rest of the industry, we're not completely out of the woods with supply issues yet, but we're optimistic the Honda and Acura brands will achieve higher sales volumes this year," Diallo says.

The automaker is entering 2023 with roughly twice the amount of on-hand inventory compared to last year, with a 17 days' supply. American Honda will work closely with its dealer body through new initiatives like pre-sales and reservations to take care of customers.

Acura will serve as the tip of the spear for digitalization at American Honda, with 100% of Acura EV sales taking place online, starting in 2024 with the ZDX and ZDX Type S. Pre-sales for ZDX will begin in 2023, ahead of the early 2024 release.

Along with Diallo’s promotion, American Honda announced a series of organizational changes aimed at continuing its move toward the electrified and digital future.

Honda will strive to create new value by leveraging its expanding range of mobility products.

A new Electrification Business Development Operations will be created to further strengthen and accelerate Honda's electrification business.

American Honda also will establish a new digital services and marketing business unit with the goal of creating an attractive and consistent customer experience.

"In 2023, we will see the strategies we've been talking about, including growing sales of light truck models, increasing volume of hybrid-electric models and the start of digital sales at Acura,"  Diallo says. "All this leads toward our vision of 100% electrified sales by 2040 to fulfill our ultimate goal of zero emissions by 2050."