Dongfeng Honda's NEV plant went into production today with a capacity of 120,000 vehicles per year, after Honda saw eight consecutive months of year-on-year sales declines in China.

Honda's first new energy-vehicle (NEV) plant went into operation in China, as the Japanese auto giant faces a rapid decline in sales in the world's largest auto market.

Dongfeng Honda, Honda's joint venture with Dongfeng Motor, saw its NEV plant in Wuhan, Hubei province, go into operation on October 11, Honda's first in the world, the Japanese automaker announced today.

The plant is located in the Wuhan Economic and Technological Development Zone and covers an area of about 630,000 square meters, according to an announcement.

The facility has an annual capacity of 120,000 vehicles and will initially produce a number of electric vehicle (EV) models, including the Lingxi L and Ye S7.

Lingxi L, the first EV model from Lingxi, a sub-brand of Dongfeng Honda, went on sale on September 27. Ye is a new brand announced by Honda in China in April.

The opening of the plant marks a leap forward in Dongfeng Honda's transformation towards electrification and intelligence, and is an important milestone in Dongfeng Honda's strategic transformation, Honda said.

Honda is accelerating its electrification efforts in China with a battery electric vehicle (BEV) lineup of 10 models by 2027, including the e:N series released in 2022 and the Ye series of models released in 2024, the automaker said.

By 2035, all Honda models sold in China will be BEVs, it said.

The NEV plant comes at a time when Japanese carmakers, including Honda, are seeing a rapid decline in sales in China.

In September, Honda sold 62,586 units in China, down 42.93 percent year-on-year and the eighth consecutive month of year-on-year declines, according to data compiled by CnEVPost.

In the January-September period, Honda sold 588,018 units in China, down 29.27 percent year-on-year.

In July, Honda announced that it was reducing its gasoline vehicle production capacity in China by 290,000 units and expects two new EV plants to begin production in September and November, respectively.

Honda had seven vehicle production lines in China with a combined annual capacity of 1.49 million units, which became 1.2 million units after that adjustment.

Honda to cut gas car capacity in China, 2 EV plants to start production within this year