In April 2009 in Japan, Honda Cars and Honda Auto Terrace, Honda's automobile dealerships, adopted the name "Honda Maintenance Station" to denote the full range of after-sales service available to customers. In addition to presenting a dealership atmosphere that is appealing to all customers, the dealers are aiming to provide a place where customers find it easy to seek advice about vehicle ownership and maintenance by providing easy-to-understand information about after-sales service.

In June 2009, dealers launched a series of bundled regular inspection services and the numerous car maintenance service menu in an effort to develop a closer relationship with customers.

Honda offers the Honda C-card to provide an optimal level of service to customers at all times. As of March 2010, the card, which combines a point-based cash rewards program, preferred service for members, a charitable donation program, and other benefits with basic credit card functionality, had been issued to a total of some 917,000 members since the start of service in October 1995. Additional "Honda C-card Members" services were added in October 2006, including the ability to reference a vehicle's maintenance history and the ability for cardholders to notify Honda of their address changes 24 hours a day. We've also added a Honda C-card without credit card functionality as an additional choice for customers.

In Japan, the annual Honda Automotive Service Technology Competition provides a venue for competition in service skills, knowledge, and customer service skills by service staff from around the country as well as mutual training for participants and programs to help train the next generation of service specialists.

The competitive events include a service engineer category in which individual participants compete to most accurately diagnose problems and replace parts, a corporate team category in which teams of three compete in customer service and problem diagnostics extending from reception to return of the customer's vehicle, and a reception staff category in which participants compete as reception staff in role-play exercises simulating customer service situations.

In 2010, a maintenance contest in which competitors strive to disassemble, measure, and reassemble functional parts as quickly and accurately as possible was added to the competition, reflecting Honda's efforts to enhance human resources development initiatives through the Automotive Service Technology Competition.

By participating in an event that showcases skills learned in the course of performing their daily work responsibilities, individual associates gain new motivation to build their skills while improving the quality of service offered by Honda.

Based on its desire to be No. 1 in customer satisfaction by an overwhelming advantage, Honda is working to offer optimal service to customers worldwide. Advanced service activities and approaches being used in various countries are shared with the rest of the world through Japan's Customer Service Operations and expanded in line with individual nations' characteristics.

We're working on a daily basis in Asian countries to affect a shift in how we provide information about periodic inspections, which are necessary in order to ensure that customers gain maximum satisfaction over the long term from Honda products. Specifically, we're moving away from providing the same information to all customers and instead offering customers the information they need in line with their driving patterns, the condition of their vehicle, and other individual characteristics, as we do in the United States and Japan. By adapting the manner in which we provide information to customers to take into account individual needs, we are attempting to provide optimal service to customers and help them achieve a comfortable life through cars. Going forward, we will broaden these activities to include emerging nations in an effort to expand the strong bond between customers and Honda to locations worldwide.