Honda ZR-V hybrid a sell-out success

HONDA Australia’s vital new ZR-V medium SUV is already proving extremely popular with potential buyers, and the brand says the petrol-electric hybrid is the car that most customers want.

It is good news for a brand with the stated goal of reaching 20,000 sales per year but has so far failed to do so – only just scraping a third of that amount in the first half of 2023.

The new Honda ZR-V range encompasses four variants – the three most affordable are turbo-petrol powered, while the top-spec e:HEV LX grade scores the brand’s petrol-electric hybrid system familiar from the Civic e:HEV.

At $54,900 drive-away, the ZR-V e:HEV LX model represents a $6400 jump over the almost-equivalent VTi LX petrol-turbo version, but that seemingly is not dissuading customers, who are willing to spend big to get into a more future-friendly, eco-conscious SUV. 

Honda Australia director Carolyn McMahon said that the brand has very strong interest in the hybrid model particularly – so much so that its supply is essentially fully accounted for until next year.

“The order bank for the new Honda ZR-V for petrol variants is a couple of months out, and our hybrid is out to December. So, we’re seeing really strong demand,” she said.

“I just got back from Bangkok earlier in the week, and we are locking in some really great support, and our Honda Centres are getting ready to be able to deliver at that 20,000 mark in Q4 of this year, Q1 next year,” said Ms McMahon of the brand’s previously stated aspiration to achieve 20,000 vehicle sales in Australia per calendar year.

“So, I’m really looking forward to that because demand is really really strong at the moment for us. Even though you're not seeing it in the retail numbers, certainly our order bank is very, very strong,” she said.

“But we will see a significant uplift in our volume later this year,” said Ms McMahon.

So far in 2023, Honda Australia’s sales numbers – or, as Ms McMahon suggests, the brand’s vehicle registration numbers – are well behind the required pace they’d need to be to achieve that level.

Through the first half of the year the brand had only delivered 6135 units, with year-to-date numbers down 9.0 per cent compared to 2022.

Last year’s numbers, though, were bolstered by strong supply out of the outgoing HR-V small SUV in runout, while the new-gen model is also in huge demand when it comes to the hybrid powertrain offering, which was not previously available.

Already in 2023, Honda has registered the sale of 205 examples of the new ZR-V medium SUV model, and indeed, the company has indicated that there are more than 1000 orders held for it to date.

2023 Honda ZR-V pricing*:

*National drive-away price.