Comments on: Honda April Sales Drop 25.3 Percent

By: poohbah

poohbah — Sun, 03 May 2009 15:17:45 +0000

Sorry, my sarcasm didn’t come through on that post, just a joke.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Sun, 03 May 2009 04:14:49 +0000

Take note Government Motors and Crisis. This is what a real automotive company looks like. See, the public wants to purchase their products. Not hand you taxpayer money that you DO NOT deserve.

By: ghillie

ghillie — Sat, 02 May 2009 09:40:07 +0000

poohbah :
May 1st, 2009 at 7:40 pm

That CEO has a lot of nerve standing in front of a corporate jet!

I think it’s one of their products

By: jurisb

jurisb — Sat, 02 May 2009 08:16:20 +0000

Ok, Honda, this one`s for you:)))

There is no dream you can not fetch,
The ravine is just indistinguished steps,
From which a pilot unfolds his wings in a stretch.

There is no time when a glory page you couldn`t dare;
I bow forward with a book of history,
So full of conquests, commenced in a dreamer`s glare.

And the sky dividing horizon`s an illusion,
Just a dwarf-sized line of doubt,
That one day will be erased by a dreamer`s solution.
( By Jurisb)

By: jurisb

jurisb — Sat, 02 May 2009 07:45:30 +0000

It is not a corporate jet the CEO is standing in front of. It is the pride of Honda. Their engineering capacity and guarded expertize allows them to build whatever they want- starting from a jet with their own engines, till a violin playing robot ASIMO. well done Honda, my deepest respect to your company. Not a single borrowed platform! What a beautiful and strong company!
Guys ,do you realize that this photo is a masterpiece, it is the only jet craft in the world where the manufacturer of the fuselage would be smart enough to build also their own engines and install them on their own aircraft! Honda didn`t go the cheap way and didn`t simply buy Allisson engines, they paid a high price for those 5 red letters on those engines.My deepest respect to them!

By: SherbornSean

SherbornSean — Sat, 02 May 2009 03:18:01 +0000

If you look at car sales (vs. vehicle sales which include trucks), Honda is very close to becoming #1 in sales in the US.

By: poohbah

poohbah — Sat, 02 May 2009 00:40:58 +0000

That CEO has a lot of nerve standing in front of a corporate jet!

By: heaven_on_mars

heaven_on_mars — Fri, 01 May 2009 23:02:20 +0000

Honda maybe down, but their reputation will keep them in the game for years to come. I just hope they get rid the design team that did the latest editions of the CR-V, Acura MDX, Pilot, and Acura TL. I own a Honda and think they do a great job, but most of the new Honda vehicles are ugly.

No doubt when the economy is strong again, Honda will be among the companies booming. If Chrysler and GM make it until the economy improves, they might still struggle if their product lines are still thought of as unreliable. I know GM has improved, Chrysler, well, not so much. I just do not understand how GM who shares a factory with Toyota cannot get up to Toyota levels of quality. Maybe in five years we will see what GM offers now really is on the level of Toyota, but based on the last ten years, they are not there yet.

By: AndrewDederer

AndrewDederer — Fri, 01 May 2009 21:52:56 +0000

They don’t have any permament employees off that I’ve heard of (and their Tier 1 suppliers are still running), some of the smaller parts are being sourced through Japan because a few smaller sub-contractors (big three centered) have closed shop. They have reduced “temporary” employees to practically zero, and they’re extending the shutdown to two weeks this summer.

I’ll add this much, no one in their supply chain is hiring right now.

This is actually really “good” bad news. Honda didn’t dip til Sept last year, so they are only down 25% or so overall (market is at around 40% off the high point), most of the others were already taking it on the chin by this time last year, you really need to take away about 20% more to most to see how far they are from their peak.

By: ihatetrees

ihatetrees — Fri, 01 May 2009 21:17:14 +0000

I wonder how many employees American Honda has on layoff (paid or otherwise)? And what percentage of factory capacity they’re using? They did just open a new Civic plant.

By: wsn

wsn — Fri, 01 May 2009 21:10:53 +0000

Among the larger car makers, Honda was the last to decline and first to recover.

By: Nicholas Weaver

Nicholas Weaver — Fri, 01 May 2009 20:57:08 +0000

I think its because the Accord, Civic, and Fit really are better cars than the Camry, Corolla, and Yaris.

Especiallyt he Civic vs Corolla and Fit vs Yaris comparisons, both of those leave Toyota gasping.

By: Juniper

Juniper — Fri, 01 May 2009 20:34:23 +0000

I think the Accord is the top selling vehicle in April.F150 second. Accord and Civic easily outsold Camry and Corolla.

By: John Horner

John Horner — Fri, 01 May 2009 20:11:35 +0000

Interesting. Hyundai and Honda appear to be taking some share from Toyota.