And the voice of Honda said:

PEOPLE OF EARTH, RETURN TO YOUR HONDAS. DRIVE HOME. THERE'S NOTHING TO SEE HERE.

Who cares about this? Well, I guess some of you do. I guess this is what happens when you have brand devotion.

Autoextremist seems to be a rant monkey. He's just throwing hate bombs at everybody. According to him, everyone knows everything about every car except the companies making the cars. What a dork! Want to see Jaguar keep making innovative cars like the new aluminum chassis XJ8? Well guess what? You gotta sell a couple hundred thousand little X-types to do it. Want to make a distinctive car that everybody recognizes instantly? You'll probably make a few "questionable" looking cars in the process like BMW has done, both now and in the past (Oh yes they have.)

There are more cars in more car segments today than ever existed in the history of all cars put together. There are so many segments now that I feel half of them are unnecessary, but people flock to buy them. Who cares if a couple of cars from one manufacturer aren't stand-outs? It means nothing.

As many of you know, I don't have any brand loyalty to Honda, they just happen to build a car that I really like. As far as I'm concerned ALL their other cars are front-wheel-drive-grocery-getters for people who can't drive in the snow. (I'm not counting Acura here, but I don't care about many of them either.)

Just about every manufacturer makes one or two cars that I would like to own. I'm not going to waste my time sitting around bemoaning the fact that no car company has a car in every segment that I find superior to every other car in every segment. (huh? I dunno. Everyone else was ranting and I felt left out)

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by paS2K
...

 

You guys assume this article is of some worth. While it may be entertaining is it accurate? Honda had record sales last year.

http://www.hondanews.com/Forms/honda/*ws4d-db-query-Show.ws4d?*ws4d-db-query-Show***005852***-wieck_media***-***honda(directory)***.ws4d?honda/results

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by cthree
You guys assume this article is of some worth. While it may be entertaining is it accurate? Honda had record sales last year.

 

I love capitalism!

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Legal Bill
[...]

Who cares about this?

 

Neither do I. I have owned 5 GM products, 2 Toyotas and 4 Hondas....I just happen to still own 3 of those Hondas....

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by dlq04

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by geekd

 

Honda sales were lower in 03 but market share increased (in the car segments). We are seeing a historical shift right now in the automotive industry from the mini vans to suv's and a horsepower war not seen since the 60's. The big three have been neglecting the car segments in favour of the high profit truck and suv market. Since the emergence of successful Japanese, Korean and European forays into the suv market and now the Nisssan Titan in the truck segment, their profits have begun to erode. More importantly, they fear further erosion in truck and suv profits and numbers. As they have been using profit from these vehicles to maintain their car lines they are now starting to realize the car lines have to be much more competitive. Honda became fat on the Civic and Accord. The Civic, when restyled in 01, was competitive in it's niche. My how quickly this new market passed them by. Will they respond? Yes! When polled younger people still want a Honda more than any other vehicle. They have tremendous brand recognition and they have begun to respond, witness the re-emergence of the civic racing series in NA next year. Remember one thing: Honda is still the largest engine manufacturer in the world. Will they have to pull out of the rhubarb and back onto the path? Sure. The best part about all this is we get to watch it from the seat of our S's