Nissan scored another hit in its recent sales streak. Driven by strong increases of its passenger cars (Sentra: +41%; Altima: +32%; Versa: +18%), Nissan cars overall posted a powerful 37% increase from a year ago. The 370Z is the laggard, down 47%; perhaps from the heavy pony car trio of Camaro, Mustang and Challenger? Nissan trucks were down 8%, but the Titan is stabilizing, and was about even with last year. Infiniti was down 6% in January. Full chart here.
Meanwhile, Honda slipped:
Honda reports DSR adjusted numbers, so these gross numbers may look different than others are reporting. American Honda overall was down 5%. Honda brand cars were up 6%, led by strong Accord sales (up 25%), to which the new Crosstour is contributing (1737 units). But the poor Fit is having a sales fit: down a whopping 43%. With only 2697 units sold, the one-time darling of the small car segment is falling off the charts. What’s going on? Too expensive? Too ugly?
Honda brand trucks were off 18%, due to pretty serious drops in all models except the Odyssey. Acura cars were off by 21%, and Acura up by 10%, thanks to a continued good showing by the MDX. Here’s the full chart:
I would say the Fit is BOTH too expensive and too ugly. Unless you get a stripper with those crappy wheel covers, the price easily goes to 17 or 18 grand. That’s too much for 109 (I think) horsepower. And now the window switch might catch fire too!
Redesign it, give it a decent name (the current one is “fit” for the trashcan), and start it below $10,000, a la the Hyundai Accent or Nissan Versa. At least that way advertised base prices can be competitive.
I almost forgot. Maybe don’t make it look like an insect?
Simple. Expensive. If the basic options brings up the price to 17-18k, that’s just plain ridiculous. At some point, you can only justify such a premium with decent gas mileage before you decide you’re best off with a compact a-la Civic, Corolla, Elantra, or even a hybrid for a few more clams!
Umm, 117 HP, and the window switch recall applies only to the first-gen GDs, not to the current-gen GEs.
Agreed. Fit sales should be a warning shot fired across the bow of Ford and it’s plans for the Fiesta. U S of A is the land of big cars, where small still equates to cheap. People are cross shopping the fit against the Accent, Versa, Forte…heck…even the Civic and it doesn’t fair well against those cars.
Actually, cutting the price on the Fit would not be wise: that would be the toyota-level decontenting that everyone is griping about here.
The fit really is a premium subcompact, dispite the tiny engine: it rails in the turns, its very comfortable, and it is as useful a cargo hauler as SUVs nearly twice its size.
And decontenting would affect what you described how? taking out extraneous junk isn’t going to make it less comfortable, handle less well or change it’s ability as a cargo hauler.
Honda made it’s name with small inexpensive simple cars. Revisiting that would go a long way toward helping them get back their lost plot.
What are the fleet sales numbers?
Not available.
last i knew honda has never done fleet sales. this is one of the ways they keep their stron resale value by not flooding the market with their vehicles
Honda tells fleet companies to go pound sand. They don’t do fleet sales.
I rented an Accord from Hertz last spring in N. Carolina. There were others on the lot. Get real!
http://www.fleetsalesmanager.com/
Just as the Fit was the darling of the high fuel price era, it now suffers from the same “fuel economizer” image in these times of low prices. They may have lost sales from the redesign too, but personally, I like the new style better(one of the few?). The older one looked like it was ready to tip over just parked.
And I agree with Nicholas Weaver – that decontenting the Fit would erase its benefits over the competition. Maybe Honda just needs to leave it as is and wait for the market to shift back towards fuel economy. But then its going to be competing with the new Fiesta and Mazda2…
I cross-shopped Fit with Mini. Fit was way more practical than Mini (even Clubman), noticably less expensive (Mini seriously nickel-and-dimes for options), but Mini was nicer to drive in the S trim. Unfortunatley, Mini S mandates run-flats, since it routes its bigger exhaust through the area where the spare is on a normal Mini. The navigation system in Fit is for peopel who are used to TVs and in Mini is for arcade game addicts. Unless you want to take your Mini to Auto-X, Fit is obviously a better value. I would suspect it is being killed by cheap Korean cars like Soul on the general market.
A coworker did the same, bought Fit. They have a baby on the way (due in February).
Id like to know how ya compare a FIT with a Mini Cooper.
The Fit is a A-B class subcompact hatch… with no real redeeming qualities except that its compact and a space saver.
With the Cooper ya got a higher price, fuel economy isn’t fantastic… AND they nickle and dime ya for a decent vehicle.. that could really be a powerful driving car.
But the price difference could be similar.. if ya get a loaded Fit and a stripper Mini.
I actually wouldn’t buy either. (Id be a sucker for a more powerful Mini, and the Fit is just too damn small to be DRIVEN. Id honestly look at the Mazda 3 hatch, or Fiesta / Focus for 2011.
My guess is that “generally” people buy a car this size for fuel economy, but at a claimed 33 mpg hwy, why not just spring for the Civic (36 mpg) for < $800 more? (according to honda's site) I know, the real numbers are going to be more, but really, what's the appeal of the Fit? Seriously, why doesn't this speck of a car get 40 mpg?
They don’t sell a Civic hatch in NA. That makes the Fit a better car for me – even if the prices were even.
I have a 2009 Fit Sport manual transmission, and I calculated my gas mileage (not the trip computer), and I get 37 mpg combined.
A good month for Nissan — I may be mistaken, but it looks like the Altima/Maxima may be the best selling car(s) in January.
The Versa is more powerful than the Fit, has more interior passenger room than the Fit, the only thing keeping it from being an IIHS pick in crash tests is the lack of traction control, and it’s better looking as well. Compared to the old Fit the Versa was a bit fugly, but compared to the new one it’s a better car at a slightly lower price (16-17 gets you a nearly fully loaded one.) Versa sales are up, Fit sales are down. Note that in real numbers (not percentages), the Versa’s sales are up by almost 50% of the amount that the Fit’s sales are down, Versa 902 up, Fit 2048 down. Oh, and at this time last year the Versa was already outselling the Fit, 5914 versus 4748…
The Fit is an exceptional value even at $17g. The Versa has more room on paper, but it is hardly usable space. Cube has the same problem. The Fit has a great design with their hatch and magic seat. It also is reliable (Nissan has been building mediocre product as of late) despite the recall on the GDs.
I think it’s generally because gas prices have come down and stayed low for quite sometime and because perhaps their advertising has declined? I’d love to see Fit as percentage of ad $s.
It’s probably a bit too expensive though…probably could be sub $17g.
The Versa sedans sell well because they are used by fleets.
It looks like Nissan Truck didn’t do that poorly once you take out the Quest and the Murano. The Quest cratered to 76 units. That data should probably be thrown out as an oddity. Frontier sales were up 22%.
Nothing wrong with Fit $4/gal gas wouldn’t fix…
In the summer of 2008 gas was $4+ a gallon and most people thought that $5, $6, or even $7 was just around the corner. The Fit was an inexpensive, cute, efficient, but very capable little car. You bought it off the truck without a test drive or the next guy in line would. Fast forward a year and the Fit is now ugly in a bulbous sort of way, more expensive, and gas is half what it cost during the Fit’s 2008 sales boom.
Doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure this out.
“What’s going on? Too expensive? Too ugly?” Maybe too chicky. If men aren’t buying them, that doesn’t leave much of a market.
I wish the Fit were doing better. Honda should reap the rewards of coming out with a car that leapfrogged the entire sub-compact segment regarding utility, handling, and features like standard side-curtain airbags.
However, as the economy grinds deeper into depression, I expect the Fit’s audience to return – men included. But I doubt men will buy a car with those cheesy wheels. The wheels scream “cheapthink”, and Honda ought to upgrade them on the base model. Leave the crapseller image to GM.
If they did it with an Si package it would go a long ways towards making the Fit more “man friendly”. Even if they just sold a few thousand at a loss it might be worth it for the perception shift.
The Fit is a niche vehicle that was snapped-up by people during a period when gas prices were climbing rapidly. Once the enthusiasm and hype died down, people have had the opportunity to look at it clearly. The novelty is over. And it turns out that it’s pretty damn ugly.
I hate to say it, since I’m a hatch lover, but Honda sells the Fit only as a hatch. Everyone who wanted one probably already has one. Nissan offers the Versa in both the hatch and sedan form, and their interiors look a lot nicer. I suspect the sedan Versa is outselling the hatch version by a country mile.
Why indeed doesn’t the Fit get 40mpg? And it’s really a tiny, slow minivan unsuited for today’s frenetic, hi-speed traffic madness. My test drive, admittedly in a gen 1, was ruined by an ordinary pothole and resulting whiplash.
Gearing.
The car has a stupid final drive ratio and, on top of that, need a fifth gear. At 120km/h the Fit is well north of 3500rpm in fifth. Near as I can tell, it’s set up this way so that you don’t need to downshift to pass.
My wife and I rented a new Fit with automatic on Nantucket Island for a day this past summer. The top speed limit on the island is I think 40MPH. I cannot imagine living with this car on interstates. With the least bit of pedal pressure it downshifted two gears with a lot of noise and very little change in speed. The engine seemed strained and the road noise was atrocious. No thanks.
I think it is really just the price.
The Fit starts shy of 15k and tops out over 18k. It feels better built than its competitors, and is snappy to drive, but that is all you get for your money. If you just want a cheap small car to drive normally you’ll get far more for your money buying the Nissan.
The Fit would sell much better if it based around 12k. But I don’t think that will happen any time soon. Honda doesn’t build any of them in North America, right? They need some coming out of a NA plant to be competitive.
Too little car for too much money.
Here in Canada, it costs $20k. A Sonata would cost a bit over $20k too. Add 15%~20%, and you can have a Mazda 6 or Legacy.
I don’t quite get some of the posters here. Why would a reduction in price would result in de-contenting?
1)It’s not at basement pricing.
2)It doesn’t have much content to begin with.
Talk all you want, but a 11Xhp Fit doesn’t handle as well as a midsize 170hp Sonata and the Fit is every bit cheaper.
“a 11Xhp Fit doesn’t handle as well as a midsize 170hp Sonata and the Fit is every bit cheaper.”
I disagree, the Fit outhandles the Sonata by a huge, not even ballpark, margin, but dosen’t ride as smoothly on the highway. Likewise, the Fit’s engine is far more “fun” to poke around in, but dosen’t have the displacement for lazy passing that other cars do. I’d say this comparison would hold true in an actual apples to apples comparison as well, with pretty much all the Fit’s competitors save the Mini.
On the price thing, one thing to consider is usable cargo space. None of the other small hatchbacks (Golf, Mazda3, Impreza, Versa, Scion) have anywhere near as much useful room, and most of those aren’t as fun to drive unless you get their more expensive versions.
The cargo space is great, but as is often the case with such things one has to wonder if you really need it. I hazard to guess that given the pick between a mid-size sedan with lots of room for four and a trunk and a small hatch with moderate room for four OR a strangely large amount of cargo – most people will be better served by the sedan.
WAIT a second.
You are TRYING to compare a FIT to a Sonata?
Like comparing apples to watermelons.
The Honda Fit is only the beginning to a slow steady sales slid for Honda. Outside of Honda loyalist, there is no reason to look at or buy a Honda anymore. Seriously, what have the engineered lately. Their engines are smooth but they are getting old. They are still sitting on 5 speed transmission, when their competitors have moved on to 6 gears. Honda designs are stale and lack imagination. Drive any of their cars and it sounds like the cockpit is being invaded by the road. The latest tech is missing in most of their cars. You have to buy their most expensive model just to get something simple as Bluetooth intergration. Reliability use to be a reason you bought a Honda. Every car on the road today is reliable. Honda’s resale use to be guaranteed. Again, the competition has closed that gap and every Honda isn’t a five star in reference to resale. If Honda thinks it can sustain it’s growth with just it’s core buyers, then we might have a death watch for them in 2 years.
It is difficult to say why one should buy a Honda these days, unless its a Civic or an Accord I suppose. They have been trying to go the green route, and pretty much killing their heritage of affordable sports cars in the process, but their hybrids are terrible.
Honda needs to move in a new direction. Ford frankly does a better job at being green at this point. The Fusion Hybrid is interesting. The Insight isn’t.
The Accord and Civic are still selling well, and holding their resale value better than most cars.
MAN..
If you are going to “make jabs” at Honda…
This is how you do it.
Positives are first.
1. The Fit did fine when gas was hovering around $4 a gallon.
2. Most of the line has been redone or touched. Ody has a new front clip. Crosstour is new. Pilot is redone, RDX is new, TL and TSX are new, to match the refreshed RL.
3. Most of the latest cars have the 3.7…
4. Accord is coming up on a refresh…
Then negatives.
Forget bluetooth integration.
Forget nav systems
Forget the basic eletronic b.s.
1. Lets concentrate on weight of Accord pushing 4000lbs!
2. Lets concentrate on Honda’s hybrid sales problem.
3. Lets concentrate on the issue of the TSX / TL.. same engine VERY similar prices.
4. Lets concentrate on Honda’s idiom.. of building simplistic interiors.. with less buttons and low belt greenhouses = lots of light and glass area.
5. Lets concentrate on light weight vehicles.. CR-Z
6.Lets concentrate on good looking vehicles. Honda’s Inspire.. looks 100x better than the same sized car, called.. ACCORD. Yet, it wont see those looks here.
7. Lets concentrate on the lack of smaller hatches.. under FULLSIZE Accord.
8. Lets concentrate on Honda admitting that they wont be using VVTI, D.I or any combination of EITHER, only to concentrate on HYBRIDS.
9. Lets concentrate on shitty interior design issues.. like GM shit of stuffing a nav system into a Civic with no panel to cover it.
10. Lets concentrate on making the CIVIC a more complete car.. with a higher displacement motor.. to be on par with the GTI, Mazdaspeed3, and or Impreza.
Lets concentrate on crazy stupid shit of a 3dr Mugen CIVIC hatch selling for 50g in Europe.. and you don’t get much for it. 25g more for… what?!
11. Lets concentrate on bringing lighter and more compact vehicles into the U.S.
12. Again, being behind in tranny speed development is a non issue. I can go into a HUNDRED more that I WISH Honda would be dealing with.
13. And none should also concern RWD or eliminating torque steer.
14. Shit, I’m still p’oed that Honda had WAGON mules of the Crosstour running around.. and when that FAT COW finally gets released.. ya get more cargo room WITHOUT the cutout in the roof!
The Honda fans always get me – with both bikes and cars. I had a ’76 Civic, I know what Hondas are like. 99% of the buying public is not interested in the origami interior of the Fit. They aren’t hauling a herd of yaks or this year’s corn crop in their Fit. The 12 of you that do would likely be better served with a real van.
And I love the Fit – let’s just get off the super magically interior as it is just has not proven to be a legitimate selling point that has increased sales.
I don’t think Honda really wants to sell a lot of Fits right now- there are really not a huge number of them sitting in dealer lots. My guess is they’re getting killed on the exchange rate, and won’t have any desire to move these cars in any kind of volume until they’re built in North America.
“99% of the buying public is not interested in the origami interior of the Fit.”
“between a mid-size sedan with lots of room for four and a trunk and a small hatch with moderate room for four OR a strangely large amount of cargo – most people will be better served by the sedan.”
Why dismiss the interior? It is the only real selling point of this car to non-enthusiasts. Look, the other pluses of the Fit are basically not there for the ignorant, do you really think the average buyer is going to see the good in a 117 hp engine, or be thankful for the sneeze and you’ve changed a lane steering rack and mediocre milage? Quite the opposite. They sell this thing to dog owners and enthusiasts looking for some combination of desirable yet primitive traits. I’d bet you dog owners (or whatever equivalent you’d like) makes up by far the majority.
As a driving enthusiast that owns 2 very large dogs, there is literally nothing else I could have bought that would have been as big inside (by a big margin). Those that came closest and still delivered the driving goods (GTI, 3, etc..) were something like %30 more expensive than the Honda in the trim that made it happen, and still weren’t nearly as much fun at legal speeds. More fun at 80-90mph sure, but below that the Fit is simply better to drive.
The problem with the car is perceived price. If they wanted it to be worth $17k they ought to have called it the Civic wagon/hatch/whatever. No one is going to look at the “sub-Civic” model as being worth as much as a Civic, even if it is 10x bigger inside (and better to drive than the non-Si models). My guess is they got burned by the Civic hatch, which they just could not sell, and did not want a repeat.
tedward
Not dismissing the interior at all. Just saying it is an answer to a question the mass-market never asked. The few people that needed such a combination bought it. The rest of the people in that market are looking for cheap transportation. It is probably more an indictment that Hondas are not due any price premium in today’s market. As to the exchange rate, the dealers would sell everyone they could if the metal was moving.
And a serious question as you are a dog owner – do you carry your dogs somewhere every day?
“do you carry your dogs somewhere every day?”
I do to some extent, a dog walk turning into a grocery run for instance. Really I need it on the weekends, when it’s my gf and I, the 2 dogs and luggage for a 400 mile roundtrip. We make the trip probably about every other weekend (more maybe) so we definitely have unusual driving needs. Also, I’m often putting 4 big dogs in the car on the weekends (2 giant schnauzer males and 2 standard poodle bitches), so the 2 compartment arrangement in the back can be kind of clutch. Still, I’d have taken a car with smaller interior room (where I think you’re going with that question) if one existed that was both a) cheaper than the Fit and b) better to drive (not equivalent). Both would need to happen before the utility of the minivan shape could be written off.
Good deal – just curious. I have 4 dogs (large and medium and small) but live on 20 acres. They get in my truck sometimes but that is usually only on the way to the vet.
I do like the Fit and we might pick up a used one on day. Just won’t be for the “Magic” seat configuration.
I have an 07 that I got to replace an Element. I can take a full set of drums around in it, a full pole saw, along with just about anything else I can throw at it.
As one brought up in a Ford family of sorts, I think they have a winner here…probably a bit expensive now though.