Honda Motor Co. said Wednesday it has started selling the HondaJet in Japan and plans to begin delivering the small business aircraft as early as the first half of 2019, in an effort to expand the country's domestic market.

The Japanese automaker, which started taking orders the same day for the HondaJet Elite, an upgraded model with a capacity of up to seven passengers, also said it aims to double its domestic market in the coming years. The market is significantly smaller than that of the United States and Europe.

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The new model carries a price tag of $5.25 million. With improved fuel efficiency, the plane has a range of 2,661 kilometers, it said.

The new plane can depart and arrive at 84 domestic airports and fly directly to and from East Asian cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Taipei and Seoul, according to the automaker.

"Japan has purchase power and demand (for business jets) has increased. We hope to double the market in Japan in the next four to five years," Michimasa Fujino, president of Honda's U.S. aviation arm, Honda Aircraft Co., told a press conference in Tokyo.

In contrast to the United States and Europe, business jets are not common in Japan and are hardly seen flying routinely, with around only 90 currently in use. The figure compares with 13,000 in the United States, according to Honda.

Honda has developed its business jet operations in more than 60 countries including the United States, China and India, as well as in Europe. It delivered 43 of them in 2017, the largest number in the world in the category of small business jets.

"We would like Japanese people to also use the HondaJet which has been highly evaluated globally," Honda President Takahiro Hachigo said.

Honda said it applied to the transport ministry for safety certification, which is needed to fly the aircraft, in May. Marubeni Aerospace Corp. has been appointed to sell and provide servicing and maintenance of the aircraft in Japan.

Inspired by late Honda founder Soichiro Honda's dream to enter the aviation industry expressed in the 1960s, Honda started development in 1986. The first HondaJet for mass production successfully made its maiden flight in the United States in June 2014.