The Concerto was sold in both liftback and saloon styles and built in two locations: Austin Rover's Longbridge plant for the European market,[1][2] and by Honda in Suzuka, Mie, Japan.

[6] In Australia and some European countries, for example Germany and Switzerland, it was only sold as a five-door liftback so as to not compete internally with the four-door Civic saloon.

Engine choices were: The four-door saloon was offered with four-wheel drive in Japan, a system later shared with the Civic-based compact SUV, the Honda CR-V.

The Japanese range received a facelift in February 1991, when the twin-cam ZC engine was also added to the JZ-Si model.

The styling of the Concerto reflected an influence from the Honda Ascot, most notably the six-light window treatment of the greenhouse.

For France, Italy, and Portugal only, markets where diesel engines were essential offerings, a turbodiesel Concerto was made available late in the model's life.

While arriving very late, several years after the range had been replaced in Japan, its mission appears to have succeeded: the TD version represented 94 percent of French Concerto sales in 1995.