Mapman

Attention, American Honda: If you don't hurry up & get your collective asses in gear, and import (to the US) the S2000 hardtop through normal channels, I'm going to... going to... uhh...

Well I'm gonna do something! I swear I will! Thanks to She Who Cleans being on vacation this week (she's a mediocre driver, and the Stook - even with snows - is a mediocre car when it gets slippery), I've been forced to drive the Stook to work every day in this miserable snow-filled hell. I can't see anything behind me! No matter what I do, snow covers the rear window almost instantly once I'm in motion.

No question, or any expected response - I'm just venting and trying to figure out why Honda hasn't brought that f*cking overpriced hardtop to its biggest market.

clutchcargo

Sorry for your snowy experience.

Chicago is really having a winter to remember (or forget) this year.

My guess here is American Honda is barley able to keep up with stuff. When you sell hundreds of thousands of some models and under ten thousand a year of another you know where the focus goes.

I would like a hard top but the price is more than a new HDTV so I'll pass. The US market may only be a couple of hundred hard tops a year. Then they (Honda) have to get installation training together for all the dealers who barely see enough units to get routine maintenance straight let alone recall work.

Yes, Honda should make it easy to get the Hard Top but I really wonder how well they are doing at stocking body and other parts to keep the banged up and broken cars going.

1Y2KS2K

I just don't understand Honda marketing philosophy. Supposedly they will begin selling the hardtop around March - just before the weather starts getting better and people are going to want to drive around top down again. Luckily, I should be getting mine through MG Racing any day now, so at least I'll be ready to use it when the rains arrive in mid-January.

TAllen

"I just don't understand Honda marketing philosophy. Supposedly they will begin selling the hardtop around March"

I'm not sure what the reason is for the delay, but I'm sure most people at Honda would love to have them available now. When I was talking to our parts rep from Honda about them he said they already know they won't be able to keep up with demand for them early on and aren't sure how they will allocate them. Usually items like that go on an allocation basis where the dealer signs up to receive a percentage of the items based on the total number of cars they get. This was the situation with the floor mats for the S2000 when it first came out. This had me calling Honda and begging for a set everytime an order came through online since we couldn't stock any of them (the Insight accessories still use this ordering method). They can't really use this method with the tops because they will also be selling to people who have had their cars for awhile.

I'd love to know the whole process that goes along with making an accessory available here and why some never make it and some take so long to make it. My guess would be that American Honda has to work to get what they can and may not always be a priority in the Honda world.

-Trevor

Schatten

also, look at how many Miata hard tops there are in the states. I have a hard top for my Miata, but do I use it? Rarely. And when I do, its on for a month or two.

When I drive around and count the number of Miata's compared to the ones with the hard tops, the percentage is usually less than 1%, but then again, I'm in a city where we have the most Miata's per capita (LA has the Most Miata's period).

Supply and Demand. I'm sure when you pay the 3500 bucks or however much it will be to get that over here, it will be the cost due to limited production. If it means that much to you, go with an aftermarket one. If its for racing purposes, go with the Mugen CF.