The Honda motorcycle business’s first quarter of its new financial year – the three months running through to 30 June – had to absorb a bit of a bang thanks to the violent Kumamoto earthquake, which caused the deaths of 38 unfortunate local Japanese citizens and nine days of suspended production at the company’s Kumamoto motorcycle factory. However, operations had resumed by 5 August and Q1 bike output performance claimed a record-high operating profit and operating margin driven by strong global sales, particularly in India and Brazil.
Sales revenue during the period rose to £5.37bn, up from £4.48bn. Operating profit reached £1.101bn, climbing from £889.6m. Operating margin increased to 20.5%, rising from 19.9%. And total sales volume grew to 5.663 million units, improving from 5.143 million units in the three months ended 30 June 2025.
Asia (principally India) was the biggest sales contributor with 4.753 million units, up from 4.284 million, and other regions were responsible for 616,000, up from 536,000 (and mainly attributable to Brazil). Europe declined marginally to 117,000 from 122,000, North America was also a loser, falling to 139,000 from 142,000. Japanese domestic sales fell to 38,000 from 59,000.
Honda has made no change from its previous unit sales forecast at the beginning of the new financial year. This is based on an approximate target of 22.8 million, increasing slightly from the 22.1 million achieved at the previous annual conclusion. Within that, Asia will deliver 19.22 million, other regions 2.37 million, Europe 44,000, North America 610,000 and Japan 160,000.
¥-£ currency translation at forex rates applicable on 5 August