May 10, 2002 - Honda Vietnam Co., Ltd. (HVN), a Honda joint venture company, announced today that it will begin exporting its high quality, low-priced motorcycle, the "Honda Wave α" to the Philippines in June. The "Honda Wave a" will be exported as "component parts sets" to be assembled in the Philippines. The projected export target for 2002 is 7,000 units.

This marks the company's first export of motorcycles from Vietnam. Eventually, exports will be expanded to include other countries mainly in the ASEAN region.

The "Honda Wave α" is a fashionable Cub-type motorcycle. Based on the use of less expensive, locally-sourced parts and the use of Honda's global procurement network, the model is offered at a very low price (Vietnam domestic price: 10.99millionVND/approx. US$732) without compromising the motorcycle's high quality and reliability. Sales of the motorcycle in Vietnam began in January, with more than 70,000 units sold through the end of April.

HVN, since starting mass production of motorcycles in December 1997, has focused on creating higher quality products and increasing local content to further improve cost competitiveness.

Honda has exported the "Dream" model made in Thailand to Singapore and Australia, and Thai-made motorcycle parts to Brazil, the Philippines and Indonesia. Thus, Honda will be making more effective use of its resources in Asia to establish a new global network for its motorcycle business.