Honda Australia isn’t shrinking away anymore. The local branch of the Japanese giant is looking to grow, expand, and maybe even build a ute. Rob Thorp, managing director at Honda Australia, sat down with CarExpert. He said the plan is simple. Get more cars on the road.
They had a good June 2026. Orders for new vehicles jumped 25%. It was their best month in four years. That’s momentum. They want to keep it.
The lineup gap
Right now, Honda Australia only offers six names. The Prelude hybrid sports coupe just launched. It’s sleek. But the heavy lifters? The CR-V. The HR-V. These two SUVs drive most of their sales.
Seven soon. The Super-One electric hatch lands later this year. Specs? Pricing? Not announced yet.
Compare that to the rest of the field. Toyota has 21 nameplates here. They lead the market for a reason. Depth matters. Then look at BYD. Last year they had six cars. Now they have eleven. They rocketed to second place again last month.
Honda is behind. Thorp admits it. “Definitely a combination of both,” he says. He means adding new nameplates and broadening existing lines.
What could come?
He won’t name names. Yet. But whispers travel. The 0 Series Alpha. It’s the lone survivor of Honda’s failed three-car EV plan. Could it land in Australia? Possible.
There is the Ridgeline, too. The next generation. US-built. A dual-cab ute. Honda Australia ruled out the old model. It’s been ten years. But a new one?
Last year CEO Jay Joseph gave a telling hint. “Do we need one?” he asked CarExpert. “Not necessarily. But if we have one, it needs to be the right one.”
Why pick and choose? Other overseas options exist. The V6-powered Passport SUV. The three-row Pilot. It shares DNA with the Ridgeline. Big. Powerful. Australian buyers like space.
“If we had a BEV, that’d be great… I just can’t wave that wand.”
— Rob Thorp, MD, Honda Australia
EVs are winning. Honda isn’t scared.
Electric vehicle sales are exploding. In June 2023, they held 10.3% of the market. Fast forward to June 2024 (wait—let me check the text… June 2025 was 10.3%). Okay, let’s stick to the timeline in the prompt. June 2026?
The numbers are steep. April 2026 saw 16.4%. May hit 19.9%. June jumped to 23.3%. That is massive growth.
Yet Thorp remains cool. Calm. Almost defiant. He blames the fuel crisis? No. He says it hasn’t changed their core strategy.
The Super-One fills the EV gap for now. But the heart of the business? Hybrids.
Sales of Honda hybrids grew 30% in the first half of 2026. Nearly two-thirds of every car Honda sells here is now a hybrid. The CR-V update helped. The HR-V refresh helped too.
Why cling to hybrids? Thorp believes they are the “natural transition.” You go from petrol to hybrid. That feels normal. Going straight from ICE to Battery Electric? Too much of a jump for the average driver.
“I still fundamentally believe in our hybrid strategy,” he says. And the money is there to back it up. Demand for hybrid ICE vehicles pulled away sharply from pure petrol models earlier this year. So Honda leans harder. Harder than ever.
He sees room for both. Hybrids and EVs. He thinks a “sizable market” exists for both to thrive.
But if you walk into a Honda dealership today, you will hear the electric hum of a hybrid. Not the silence of a full EV. Not yet.
Watch the July 12 interview for the rest of it. If there’s any truth to the ute rumor, he’ll have to spill then. Until then, Honda bets on the middle ground.
