PUTRAJAYA: Honda Malaysia Sdn Bhd is confident of achieving its internal sales target of 40,000 vehicles for 2010, up from 38,783 units, despite the negative publicity over the recall of some Honda cars outside the country due to certain defects.

Its managing director and CEO Toru Takahashi said the company had been experiencing a steady growth in orders and sales for the past two months.

"As far as we know, we have not seen any negative impact on our sales after the recall announcement," he told reporters after the launch of the third generation Honda CR-V here, on Thursday, March 11.

"For January, we recorded total sales of 3,876 units and in February, a shorter working month, we registered 2,108 units," he added.

Takahashi also said the trend looked like continuing in March.

On the newly launched Honda CR-V, Takahashi said the company aimed to sell 4,200 units by year-end, adding that it already had 1,200 pre-launch bookings at the moment.

"We expect an average sale of 350 units per month after this launch. This will enable us to maintain the current 30% market share in the Malaysian SUV segment," he said.

The new Honda CR-V is powered by a 2.0-litre i-VTEC engine capable of generating 150bhp and equipped with a 5-speed automatic transmission.

It also comes with side airbags with OPDS (Occupant Position Detection System) for the driver and front passenger, the first SUV in its class to introduce the feature.

The Honda CR-V carries an on-the-road price tag of RM149,980.

Meanwhile, Honda Malaysia chief operating officer Rohime Shafie dismissed claims that the recent hike in the overnight policy rate would affect vehicle sales in Malaysia, including Honda's.

"With only a 0.25% increase to 2.25%, the impact is expected to be minimal. The hike is still manageable," he said, adding there was still a lot of liquidity in the country.