Honda To Create Second Chinese" Brand: Ciimo

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

Thanks to the notoriously leaky Chinese Patent and Trademark Office, and the intrepid research of Carnewschina, we now know that Honda will enter the Chinese market with a second “Chinese” brand.

Honda has two joint ventures in China, Guangzhou-Honda and Dongfeng-Honda. The Guangzhou-Honda sub-brand is called Everus and we showed you their first car, the S1, which we spotted in a quiet corner of the Shanghai Motor Show.

No JV should be left behind, so Dongfeng-Honda will have its own “Chinese” brand called Ciimo, or “Si Ming” in Chinese. At least that’s what the trademark-application says.

According to Carnewschina, Dongfeng gets a slightly better deal. While the Everus S1 is based on the outdated Honda City, the first Ciimo will be based on the last-gen Honda Civic.

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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 3 comments
  • Ingvar Ingvar on Sep 28, 2011

    First I thought it said "Clito", then I saw the logo...

  • Advo Advo on Sep 28, 2011

    That's not a model name? Honda Cii sounds pretty modern and tech. I admit I don't have that great an understanding of what makes the biggest auto market in the world tick. Honda wants to increase its sales there, yet they're using a nondescript logo and not the latest, perhaps most fashionable, products. Are they importing these cars from already paid for factories, or are they retooling existing plants, or starting new ones, with the older vehicles?

  • BuzzDog BuzzDog on Sep 28, 2011

    At first I thought this was a blatant ripoff of Mazda's logo from the 1990s...

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