Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Honda is scoring big times in the USA auto market

With the high fuel price, America has become an open field for small fuel efficient cars and Honda has become the big player in this field. The small cars of Honda are now selling very quickly all over the USA. Instead of going for big cars and better performing engines Honda Motor Company Limited (TYO: 7267) focused on its small subcompact cars. Now Honda has got the best performance in the USA auto market. It sales grew up 4.8%. In May, Honda Civic became the top selling vehicle in the USA displacing Ford’s F-Series trucks. According to Jim Hossack, consultant, Auto Pacific Inc. Honda’s products are well tuned with the condition of the current market. They are not offering Super Duty or Suburban but small fuel-efficient vehicles. Det News.com reports:

Honda could sell even more vehicles in the United States if the Japanese automaker shipped more small cars to its American Honda Motor subsidiary. Fit subcompacts are sold within five days of reaching showrooms, said John Mendel, executive vice president at American Honda. But Honda is also scrambling to meet demand in Japan, where the Fit is the best-selling vehicle. "Sixty percent of the world market is small cars. We compete with the rest of the world for the Fit," Mendel said. It gets 27-28 miles per gallon in the city and 33-34 mpg on the highway.

Sales of Honda’s Fit subcompact has increased 64%, Civic 20.5% and Civic hybrid 17.5%. Honda may be doing well in its small vehicles section but its bigger vehicles are not performing well. Though cross over CR-V are quite popular but still, Honda is having a tough time selling its big vehicles. Honda’s midsize Ridgeline pickup, premium Acura are slow sellers but overall Honda cars do not spend much time in dealers lots in the USA now days.

Related article:
Det News.com

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