ruexp67

Put me on that list.

vishnus11

F'ing clown...

1. Chey Volt has been delayed with problems in bringing li-ion tech at that price point. If anything, this car as been nothing but an attention grabber for GM and no one has seen any real progress with this concept.
2. Meanwhile Honda is introducing 2 next gen hybrid vehicles next year. They've had 10 years to improve on the hybrid tech THAT THEY WERE THE FIRST IN THE WORLD to premier in the insight, and you can best believe that these next-gen hybrids are going to be VERY good. Meanwhile, the competition, excluding Toyota has been caught with their thumbs up their asses, with no worthy future hybrids in the pipeline.
3. Are you a ****ing clown? Honda's fuel cell vehicle is just an 'attention-grabber'. Ever heard of the FCX - the world's first and ONLY fuel-cell vehicle certified for road use and sales (albeit in California - due to infrastructure)
4. Just because small cars are in and big SUVS are losing favor fast this doesn't mean that some folks still don't want a larger vehicle - hence the Pilot, MDX, CR-V and such - which dominate sales in their class by the way, by being forward thinking and using V6s with cylinder deactivation instead of thirsty, pointless V8s.

The MDX slaughtered the X5 and ML class vehicles in sales.

5. Pull your head out of your ass and do some research before spouting out complete BS

JonBoy

Their march into a very successful market in which they still continue to sell better than the competition (relative to last year, for instance) with more fuel and space efficient vehicles. The Odyssey and Pilot have been massive successes and the Ridgeline has met sales goals each year it has been sold.

Honda has a smart lineup that is fairly small. Toyota has a huge lineup (more than twice as many vehicles) and GM has a massive lineup. Honda's lineup has been hugely successful because they focused on making a few good cars as opposed to a bunch of mediocre ones. The Civic, Fit, and Accord are all pretty much the cream of the crop in their respective segments, not to mention the Odyssey. The CR-V is arguably down on power, though the record sales last year and this year (on pace to be the best selling SUV in the USA) indicate the consumers certainly don't think so.

The lower road (as you call) seems to be the best road at the moment. Do it right and you don't need to have multiple models (or variations of models) - you just sell every one you can make in the few models on which you focused.

For $48K dollars? Yeah, really affordable and cost efficient.

Honda has technology and efficiency NOW while promising (in the next two years) ultra-fuel efficient models in both small, medium, and large vehicles (diesels and hybrids). They've been looking ahead for a long time and they're using great starting platforms to exploit their upcoming engine and hybrid technology. Toyota isn't bringing diesels for a while (as far as we know) and neither is GM or Nissan. Ford plans on bringing them over, I believe.

Honda has also developed a urea-less system for cleaning diesel emissions. No one else has anything similar and that is allowing them into the US diesel market ahead of anyone else except potentially VW (de facto diesel presence in USA until now) and Mercedes (non-competitor to Honda). Everyone else is having to either pay royalties for the Bluetec system or else develop their own technology. Oh yeah, that's right, Honda went and figured it out before everyone and now they'll reap even more money. TSX and Accord that get 50+ mpg on the highway? Yeah, they're not going to sell well at all......

Of course you would, since you're a naysayer. Why would Honda invest in certain technologies when the cost efficiency wasn't where it needed to be? They've got everything they need RIGHT NOW to take full advantage of the market plus giving themselves more time to bring even more efficient vehicles in the very near future (Fit Hybrid, CR-Z, and all the diesel vehicles including Pilot, Odyssey, Accord, and probably CR-V). They're selling every hybrid they can make plus lots of less-expensive, more fun vehicles (Fit and Civic) that are much more readily available.

Honda sells a lot of Pilots and the Ridgeline is meeting (and has met) sales expectations since they were introduced. They still both sell (comparatively) better than the majority of the competition in terms of past sales vs current sales.

No, because Suzukis of yore were pieces of crap. Honda builds great cars that are generally fun to drive, efficient, and reliable. Those three core values are what are selling all of their cars right now.

People have been moaning for Honda to develop bigger, faster, more powerful engines for years and Honda has resisted that idea heavily. A 3.5L motor as the biggest available when you have a large SUV and a midsize pickup? People scoffed and said that people WANTED and NEEDED those big engines. Where are those people now? Trading in their vehicles with big, inefficient engines for an "underpowered" Honda.

Sure, but who's selling the most of them? Who put the significant resources in (a LONG time ago) to make the BEST small and medium cars that offer performance, efficiency, and reliability instead of building big SUVs, big trucks, and cars with big motors and not a lot else? Even Toyota got caught up in the race.

Yeah, you've really showed me what's real. Honda sucks, they got lucky, and they're still behind the curve.



You don't craft an ENTIRE COMPANY and tie your success to a coincidence. Honda has consistently maintained (or improved) sales and profit margins along with everyone else in the "good years" and now they're maintaining those sales (or improving them, overall) in the "bad years".

JonBoy

If you're talking about my figures, you're wrong. I quoted (and linked) only to automotive sales. Motorcycles weren't ever in the picture.

2.9% financing is still higher than many other companies are offering (0%, 0.9%, and 1.9%) right now to move vehicles off the lot. Toyota is offering 0% on the Corolla and Camry.

dombey

lol, and let's not forget that the RDX was probably turbo'd as a pilot for upcoming turbo or turbodiesel vehicles from honda that will likely be very efficient. It fits right into the RDX "technocharged" theme, and allows them to do some real worlds testing on the their turbo technology. It's all about platform planning, and I think in this case Honda has/will show us how it is done.

TommyDeVito

[QUOTE=JonBoy,Jun 4 2008, 07:28 AM] If you're talking about my figures, you're wrong.

Saki GT

Wow Jonboy, I'm not trying to rain on your parade, just pointing out that Honda has always been into smaller engines, smaller tires, etc, so it may look like it planned this all out, but even a broken watch is right twice a day.

Personally, I think Honda's just in front of the mob now, and in the past it was behind the mob when SUVs were the rage, but Honda caught up by outsourcing SUVs and eventually building some. I don't think Honda has any crystal ball that lets it see anything the rest of the auto industry doesn't, but it definitely planned better than some makers.

If you look at all the manufacturers, the trend is that small car sales are way up, but trucks, lux cars, and SUVs are down. If you have a lot of small cars in your lineup, like Honda and Toyota, you're doing well right now despite the sales drops elsewhere. If you have a lot of trucks and big cars, like Chrysler in particular, you're feeling the pain. Honda is in line with this trend - its small cars are up, its trucks and lux are down.

pierceman

we set a sales record at one of our stores in May, most cars ever for them in May.....

I love my Honda.....

JonBoy

They differentiate between cars and SUVs/pickups, yes.

The Civic is offered at 0.9% up to 36 months, which is still higher than Toyota is offering on similar models (0%).

vader1

You can say that but one thing is missing, Honda has always been (at least for the last decade and a half) profitable. That is something GM and Ford can not say. I know there are a dozen reasons that go into GM and Ford's financial problems, but Honda has been true to a mission statement and fuel efficiency was one of the things that made them attractive even when fuel efficiency was not the rage.


Other companies stick their finger in the wind more and suffer for it. Honda builds stuff other see as quirky, but its not until now that people see the brilliance of the Fit or the common Civic or even a 4 banger CRV.

I just got my employer to allow me to work from home one day a week for about 7 months a year. That will cut my consumption by about 15%. And I can afford gas just fine. If gas hits $5, I may look into a motorcycle license and get a little Ninja to commute with in summer.