No, Honda isn’t immune from the sales tragedies of the month of September, declining 24 percent overall in contrast to September 2007. The Honda brand was down 23 percent, while the small Acura division dropped 30.4 percent. While Fit sales were up for Honda again (48 percent to 6,515), everything else was hurting. The Accord’s buyers skipped town to the tune of a 36.1 percent dive in sales, a stunning decrease of nearly 13,000 units. The Civic, which is probably cannibalizing some Accord sales (just as the Fit might be taking a little money out of the Civic’s pockets), dropped a relatively reasonable 12.8 percent versus last September. It should go without saying that the Odyssey, CR-V, Pilot, Ridgeline, and Element all saw huge numbers of sales evaporate, though the minivan had it worst with a 34 percentage point drop, declining from 16,464 last September to only 10,783 cars this month. Acura also took a beating, with huge declines for every single model they make. The usual volume models, the TL and MDX, fell 30 percent and 28.9 percent respectively. The RL and RDX sales imploded, while the TSX did fairly nicely at 2,144 units – a decrease of 16 percent – although considering the all-new TSX was introduced recently, this is somewhat less impressive. The bottom line is that even the American auto market’s golden boy can’t win all the time.
A big enough hurricane swamps any boat, no matter how good the captain and crew.
Well put John Horner.
What is it about the Fit that has everyone and their mother buying one? Do they not know that the Civic has far better fuel economy? I think people are automatically equating vehicle size with gas savings and aren’t realizing their mistake in this case. Could it be the hatchback? In this hatchback-averse country?
akitadog
The Civic does not have far better fuel economy. The combined ratings are as follows:
Automatic Fit: 31 (28/35)
Manual Fit: 29 (27/33)
Automatic Civic: 29 (25/36)
Manual Civic: 29 (26/34)
People probably do wrongly assume that the Fit has significantly better fuel economy than its larger brother, but it does not have worse fuel efficiency. Also, the Fit costs a couple grand less than the Civic similarly equipped.
The Civic has taken the Accord’s old place as a mainstream sedan. The new Accord is for people that used to buy Acuras for luxury, and the Civic Si is for people that used to buy Acuras for performance.
If Honda isn’t willing to develop proper RWD platforms then they should probably take Acura out back and shoot it, although that could be expensive with state franchise laws.
Wow. I’m a bit stunned at this. What a brutal marketplace out there today.
akitadog wrote:
“In this hatchback-averse country?”
How many times do we need to see the sales numbers like for the Fit or Prius with people still repeating that this is a hatchback-averse country? It isn’t. People like hatchbacks, just not crappy ones.
The Fit was actually up 42.7%, not 48%. The 48% is the Honda-supplied DSR number.
As of last month, the local Honda dealer wanted 2k over sticker for a loaded Civic. I walked out without a word because I was just blown away.
People in this country like hatchbacks, in my experience, if they’re good. Witness the Mini, the xB, the Vibe, the A3,the Golf, the Versa and the Fit.
Heck, I passed on a new Civic (and bought a hatchback Versa instead) for three reasons: the Civic had no leather steering wheel, the most unpleasant beige interior I’d ever personally witnessed, and a trunk. And now when I look at my car at the curb, it makes me smile in a way my trunk-based transportation of the past (Jetta, Sentra, Regal(!)) never did — probably because I used to own a Rabbit.
Oh, and I skipped the Fit because the available worldwide crash test scores, esp. in side-impact, weren’t up to those of the Versa (although both were beaten by the Civic.)
The fit has a quite a bit more utility than a sedan; the amount of cargo space you can get is pretty impressive for a car of that size.
I just bought an ’08 Civic. I would have considered the Fit, but as y’all said, the MPG isn’t that different. I wouldn’t have minded a wagon too. The problem was that (1) they had maybe one in stock, (2) they dealt a little on the Civic but would not budge on the Fit, and (3) sticker on the only Fit on the lot was approaching $17K, and the Civic LX I bought only a few hundred more. I got slightly better MPG, a comfortable ride, and a bit more room.
Granted, I have not looked at the 2009 Fits, and from what I understand, they made some changes. The 2009s were not available at the time I made the purchase.
I just read that October, 2008 sales are down 28% over 2007. However I tried to help with a 2009 Civic Coupe LX. What a great car! In it’s class, I couldn’t come up with a reason not to buy it.