Honda Australia: CR-V should be number one in segment, Japan previews incoming updates

Honda Australia's CEO has boldly proclaimed he believes the CR-V is the best car in its segment, and expects growth with the expansion of hybrid availability in the new year.

Speaking at a media lunch in Melbourne, Honda Australia CEO Jay Joseph made the claim in response to a question asking whether there is a brand or model in market the company is benchmarking.

"I've said this internally – objectively I think the CR-V is a better car than any of its competitors. In the States, the CR-V outsells the competition," Mr Joseph.

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"It's an oversimplification to say, solely based on product, CR-V should be the number one vehicle in segment, because there's so much more to it than that.

"What's the awareness of the brand? What's the shopping consideration? What's the size and visibility of the network?

"There are so many factors that go into that, that I'm inspired by competitors that, objectively and subjectively, are not up to snuff compared to ours – we should be meeting them in market."

Mr Joseph said more broadly that Honda Australia is expecting 10 per cent sales growth in 2026, following around 10 per cent growth in 2025 – largely off the back of the updated CR-V and ZR-V, both of which will offer expanded hybrid availability from the first quarter of next year.

The CR-V is Honda's top-selling model in Australia, and as of the end of November its sales are up 2.4 per cent for the January-November period compared to 2024, at 5210 units.

By comparison, its top-selling arch nemesis – the Toyota RAV4 – has notched up a massive 45,909 sales over the same period (down 14.3 per cent for the year).

The RAV4 owns nearly 10 times the CR-V's market share (21.0 vs 2.4 per cent), and there are a number of other segment rivals with substantially higher volumes – including the Mazda CX-5, Mitsubishi Outlander and Hyundai Tucson, among others.

Not much has been revealed about the updated MY26 CR-V due Down Under towards the end of the first quarter of 2026 (March-April), but the reintroduction of the SUV nameplate for Japan provides some strong clues.

The Honda CR-V is set to return to the Japanese market in February after initially being left off the domestic roster following low sales of the previous-generation model.

At launch, the CR-V will be released in Japan in high-spec e:HEV RS and e:HEV RS Black Edition trim levels, with both offering the real-time all-wheel drive hybrid drivetrain promised for Australia in 2026.

Other key updates include the availability of the said Black Edition model, which adds contrast black lower cladding, black alloy wheels and gloss black interior accents, as well as an updated Honda Connect infotainment system with Google Built-in services (including Google Maps and Google Assistant).

Rounding out the potential upgrades for Australia include the Honda Sensing 360 suite of safety assistants, which broaden the CR-V's safety roster to include front cross-traffic alert, an active lane change prevention function (or blind-spot assist vs warning), and active lane change assist.

Stay tuned to CarExpert for all the latest!

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