Honda took the industry-standard beating last month, emerging with “only” a 35.4 percent sales drop. Unsurprisingly, Honda’s hot Fit kept its head above water: sales increased 2.3 percent in February. Accord and Civic were both down over 30 points. In the SUV category, only the CR-V escaped 40 percent or higher year-on-year monthly sales loss numbers. Acura’s new TSX is up four percent. The rest of Honda’s luxury brand is way down. The attached Honda press release hopes against hope for a spring uptick in sales. The new Insight Hybrid could also revive sales. Meanwhile, Civic Hybrid sales tumbled 21 percent. But with bread and butter Accord and Civic sales down so sharply, Honda will be hurting until the mass market decides it wants new cars again.
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Honda should regain it’s focus to offer superior values to buyers. My wife pointed out that Honda cars are “over-priced” when we visit the local dealership. Disclaimer: we drive a Honda and own 400 shares of HMC.
The market was overinflated, and everyone is going to have to make cuts. 2007 sales levels will not be back for a while. Honda is also loosing the sporty edge it had over Toyota, and is becoming more and more like Toyota #2 than what Honda used to be.
Bring back the Integer and lose one of the four Buicks–or maybe two of them. How many Buicks do you need? Bring back the CRX. Make the Civic’s windshield steeper. Honda needs to be Honda: high quality, bon marche, and sporty.
wsn: Honda should regain it’s focus to offer superior values to buyers. My wife pointed out that Honda cars are “over-priced” when we visit the local dealership.
For the past few years, it seem as though every time Honda introduced a redesigned model, it moved it slightly upmarket. This is especially noticeable with the Civic, which can now hit $22,000+, and that is for the non-hybrid versions. I wonder if Honda was trying to avoid competing directly with Hyundai.
I don’t know, Maybe Honda should work on making good cars again like they were doing just a few years ago. You know, putting adequate soundproofing into their cars and not using flimsy plastic trim where their cars once hand soft-touch material or even upholstery. Sat in a 2007 and 2008 Accord back to back? It’s horrible.
The thing is, Hondas are still commanding a price premium. I could understand that if a Honda ‘felt’ higher quality, but they don’t. That leaves Honda’s reputation for reliability as the only remaining reason to buy one of their products- a compelling argument, but for a slower, noisier, crappier car?
Only the Fit is really best in class. They got that one right at least. But everything else is crap.
OK, I guess I’m failing to see the big negative in Honda’s numbers.
Of the Big 6 they have the lowest incentives and the smallest percentage of sales lost.
Translation: The buyers that are still in the market are finding their cars more appealing and better values than the others.
Most comparisons are finding the Accord winning against all comers (a few losses to the Altima), the Civic is very well received, and the Oddy owns mini-van comparos. Most of their vehicles are class contenders at the least.
I think their styling people have lost a step (or had to much sake when they did the Pilot) but they are still probably the best combination of design, engineering and reliability on the market.
Cheerio,
Bunter
I hope you guys can compile market share numbers so we can see relative gains/losses.
I guess the new TSX is a hit. Now that it’s bigger, it’s probably taking a lot of former TL shoppers.
Honda’s mix has shifted towards much less profitable vehicles, just like everyone’s.
The RDX remains a complete dud, unless you compare it to the RL. Kill to poor RL already, it is the only merciful thing to do.
Had the displeasure of driving the new Pilot yesterday. What a horrible interior!!! Same cheap gray on gray plastic Chrysler uses. Flimsy center console, everything was hard to the touch. It could drive like a dream, I couldn’t get past that interior. FAIL!
Acura: Go back and look at your products that got you invited to the dance in the first place.
Better yet: copy Audi and make it better for less money.
Honda: Build a CRX replacement on a beefed-up Fit platform. We all know your hybrid CR-Z is going to be overpriced.
Bring back the affordable fun, bitches.
Both Honda and Toyota are in trouble (as TTAC pointed out about Honda some months back). I mean, as a commentator above said, you walk into a dealership, get the quotes on a Civic then you go home and think, “Jeez, how much cheaper is that Hyundai again? 4k? And the warranty? Or how about that other friend who just bought a Fusion…ain’t it bigger? For the same price??”. It’s not like they’re BMW or something that much more “special” and can command those higher prices.
My prediction, with the new Fords and ever-improving GMs (big IF), ever-stronger competition from Hyundai and Kia, Toyonda will go down over the next couple of years.
Had the displeasure of driving the new Pilot yesterday.
I’ve always respected Honda design, but lately they’re a mess. The Pilot? Horrible. Accord and Civic*? Ditto. The only Hondas I see of interest to me right now are the Fit and The CR-V. Although the upcoming Accord wagon thing looks interesting….
* my daughter’s Barbie Jeep has a bigger steering wheel.
Everytime I get into my daughter’s ’95 Civic, I can’t help wondering about the quality of this vehicle compared to my recent Accords (’03 and current ’07)—Sure, it suffers from the rear wheel-housing rust issue, but it still motors along after 240,000 km—I continue to be amazed at the durability of the interior in tan—complete with soft-touch vinyl and seats that still have retained their comfort—plus the fact that the body is as ‘tight as ever’, compared to my Accords that produce creaks from the engineered-in body flex.