Honda Down 7.3%
Honda, the poster child for “Why Can’t Motown be More Like a Transplant?” was not immune from the U.S. auto industry’s August doldrums. While sales of the new Pilot rose 18.6 percent (11,276 units), and sales of the miserly Civic increased by 5.3 percent (30,052) units, Honda’s Fit ran out of puff. August sales sank 25.1 percent. Year-to-date, Fit sales are up 54.9 percent– indicating the run-out of the old model/anticipation for the new one. Meanwhile, the plentiful, new(ish) Accord is also struggling, down 7.9 percent, ceding the top sales spot to Camry by 991 cars. Needless to say (these days), light truck sales dragged Honda’s numbers down. CR-V sales dropped by 14.3 percent, the Odyssey took a 19.6 percent dive and the Ridgeline (the what?) was 14.4 percent off its previous pace. Even with the Pilot’s ascent, Honda’s truck sales were down a combined 10.6 percent. That’s not bad, you know, considering.
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Not sure why the comments on poor Fit availability. I just ordered one, a red Fit sport w/manual trans, and won't have to pay over MSRP. I guess if you're willing to wake a few weeks..
I cruised my local Honda dealer last Sunday. No Fits. No Civics except for one lone Hybrid marked up with dealer add-ons. When Indiana comes online, they'll make a killing.
One local dealer does not make a national statistic. My local Chevy dealer was out of Cobalts. Every week during the summer I got emails from a local Honda store that announced it just got its last shipments of 08 Civics for the year. Somehow they kept coming in. No one has disputed that both GM and Honda got the product mix and availability wrong. Instead, the shift has been to which companies are more profitable. That is a change of subject. Because besides revenue the big component of profitability is expense. GM and Ford have a truckload of expenses in the form of labor costs, which affects their product line. Which does not change the argument: if Toyota and Ford had more products that people wanted, and had them available, they would sell more. But let's not pretend that Honda's not selling more was a mark of its success while GM's not selling more was a clear sign of its failure. It's the same problem- the supply chain of product did not meet the market.
I just want to take this opportunity to FLIP THE BIRD to all those who said that Honda F'd up the new Accord. Too big, too ugly, blah blah blah. Looks like Honda got it right and you got it wrong. The Accord is running toe-to-toe with the Camry, meanwhile the Civic is beating them both. HA. In hingsight, it looks like their products are well positioned, huh? Consider this the post audit for the non-analytical, blowhard jackasses among us.