We knew that mind-boggling numbers were on their way, from year-end forecasts issued three months previously. But Honda’s massive motorcycle business didn’t even bother with bragging rights when they finally landed. During its full fiscal year to 31 March 2025, global Honda motorcycle output climbed by 9.3%, surging to an extraordinary 20.572 million units sold. BDN financial editor Roger Willis applauded from a safe distance.
To achieve such a stupendous volume, the company actually began on a negative note. Its Japanese domestic sales slumped by 7.1% to 224,000 units. But crucial Asian sales, including those from the really big-league players of its HMSI subsidiary in India and joint-venture affiliate Astra Honda in Indonesia, climbed by 9.1% to 17.478 million. Other emerging and smaller regions contributed a 13.7% rise to 1.847 million. In the developed world offering the opportunity of much higher pricing, North American sales stacked on 10% to 548,000 and European headcount increased by 7.9% to 475,000.
Total resultant revenue was 12.6% up to an astronomic £18.536bn. Operating profit grew by 19.3% to a similarly muscle-bound £3.391bn. Operating margin improved from 17.3% to 18.3%.
Naturally, Honda has no intention of standing still in its new fiscal year through to 31 March 2026, although the immediate forecast will obviously be amended quarter by quarter — especially against the current volatile geo-economic background.
At the moment, Honda is predicting global growth of 728,000 units to a fresh peak of 21.3 million. But that will be confined to Asian and other emerging markets. The developed world is likely to face difficulties and European sales in particular are flagged for shrinkage of 45,000 units to 430,000.
Yen-Sterling currency translation at forex rates on 13 May