India,Asia sales power Honda Motor

The auto maker’s net sales increased to 2.25 trillion yen for July-September quarter from 2.05 trillion yen in the same period last fiscal.

The good quarter numbers are understood to be a result of the company’s cost-cutting efforts and Japanese government’s incentives for energy efficient cars,which offset the negative impact of a strong yen.

During the quarter,Honda has registered a double-digit growth in all the regions except Europe.

In terms of geographical locations,the Asian region,which includes Thailand,Indonesia,China,India,Vietnam,has emerged as the star performer with revenue rising by 22.2 per cent to 452.9 billion yen (USD 5.4 billion).

The robust performance was mainly due to increased revenue in automobile and motorcycle businesses,despite the unfavorable currency translation effects.

Besides,the company’s domestic revenue rose 16.1 per cent to 933.5 billion yen,North America revenue grew by 13.6 per cent to 1.02 trillion yen,while revenue from Europe fell by 25.6 per cent to 161.3 billion yen.

The company expects a net income of 500 billion yen and net sales of 9 trillion yen for the fiscal year-ending March 31,2011.

Motorcycle sales jumped 13.4 per cent to 2.73 million units,due to robust sales in Asia and South America,although sales in North America remained low.

Honda’s automobile unit sales totalled 898,000 units,an increase of 7.2 per cent from the same period last year.