Honda to sell China-made EV in Japan under Insight name

A 5 March report by Nikkei indicates that Honda will begin selling its China-made electric vehicles (EV) in Japan as early as this spring, becoming the first Japanese automaker to sell a Chinese car domestically. The model, drawn from Honda’s China-focused e:N EV brand launched in 2022, will be adapted to Japanese specifications and sold under the revived Insight nameplate.

The move is intended to address a conspicuous gap in Honda’s current Japanese lineup. As it stands, the automaker offers only two EVs to its Japanese consumers: the N-One e: and the N-Van e:, both of which are kei segment vehicles. Its previous standard-size EV, the Honda e, was discontinued in 2024 after a 259 km range limited its appeal. The China-built Insight is expected to offer around 500km per charge, making it by far the best performer in the automaker’s Japanese EV portfolio.

The import also serves Honda’s China business, which has been contracting sharply. New-car sales in China fell 24% in 2025 to 645,345 vehicles, the fifth consecutive annual decline, as intense competition from BYD, Geely and other domestic brands erodes the positions of foreign joint venture partners. Utilising existing Chinese production capacity for Japan-bound units provides some offset to that pressure without requiring new capital investments.

Honda’s willingness to import China-made vehicles into Japan reflects just how thoroughly the cost and technology calculus in EV production has shifted over the last few years. But while it is now widely understood to be a given that the economics of Chinese production are substantially cheaper than in traditional vehicle manufacturing countries like Japan, Italy or the US, some OEMs have proven hesitant to lean on imports for fear of political blowback or consumer rejection. 

Few countries’ vehicle markets are as heavily tilted in favour of domestic automakers as Japan’s—many global players have tried to crack it, and many have failed. Whether the familiarity of the Honda brand can surmount the Chinese technology and manufacturing underneath remains to be seen.

Chinese imports are just one part of a broader readjustment of its production footprint. Honda formally announced on 5 March that it will separately begin selling two US-built vehicles in Japan in the second half of 2026: the Acura Integra Type S and the Honda Passport TrailSport Elite, both produced at Honda plants in Ohio and Alabama respectively.