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 "There is no sign that our sales are shrinking," he told reporters. "I don't foresee a recession. There are plenty of business opportunities."
Fukui said Honda Motor Co. sales were reaching records on the U.S. East Coast, a region where the Tokyo-based maker of Accord sedans and Odyssey minivans had lagged in the past.
He said the shift toward smaller models was continuing in the United States amid rising gas prices and ecological concerns.
The most popular offerings from Honda, Japan's No. 2 automaker, were smaller passenger cars, rather than light trucks or sport-utility vehicles, he added.
But the CR-V, a small SUV, is a strong seller, Fukui said at a luncheon at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan in Tokyo.
Fukui's comments follow contrary remarks from Nissan Motor Co. Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn earlier this week, who noted that even if the United States is not in recession, its auto industry is.
"We are very lucid on the situation of the industry that there is a recession in the United States, at least in the car market," he said in Seoul, South Korea.
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 Ghosn, also chief executive of Nissan's French alliance partner Renault SA, said rising costs for iron ore, precious metals, aluminum and other materials present risks for the auto industry.
U.S. car and truck sales totaled 16.1 million vehicles in 2007, down from 16.6 million the year before, according to Autodata Corp., the worst performance since 1998, as rising gasoline prices and declining home values sapped consumer confidence.
Fukui was more upbeat. Honda is not making any changes to its global expansion plans, and Honda has not had to rely on bigger incentives, or discounts, to woo American buyers, he said.
"We'd rather do solid business by offering good products at good prices," said Fukui.
Honda is expecting its North American vehicle sales to rise 3 percent to 1.59 million vehicles this year from 1.55 million last year.
[Associated Press; By YURI KAGEYAMA]
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