98AccordEx

Backseat Driver
Ganging Up On Honda

"Reports of our death are exaggerated," says Dan Bonawitz, Honda vice president of corporate planning.

I think the author of this piece should focus on auto manufacturers with actual problems. Are we really supposed to feel sorry for Honda because sales of the Accord are down 9%. Poor baby!!! The Accord has moved down to the #5 and practically outsells the entire lineups from Volkswagen and Volvo. Please whine about an actual problem.

http://www.forbes.com/business/2004/...ahoo&referrer=

heyitsme

Its their own fault for going with a weird design.

dom

"Honda has stumbled. But it won't fall."

That pretty much sums it up.

provench

Yep - a blow to the Accord is a huge blow to Honda. No way to minimize that. We are talking the bread and butter of the Honda volume here. Now let's go back to all those folks wanting to push Honda to do something less conservative with the Accord ... well they tried and it hosed them.

phile

Just a bump on the road. Look at the Japanese Inspire sedan...Honda can easily fix the Accord's looks and it'll sell well again. Honestly, what else can you fault the Accord for? It pretty much does everything extremely well...not as fast as the V6 Altima, but it'll keep up; interior's not as posh as a VW Passat, but it's better than what Toyota, Chevy, Nissan, etc is giving.

iamhomin

ABP-CL9-TSX

the accord is one problem and the aging civic is another.

1SICKLEX

Honda ain't going anywhere. Though Honda is really known for quality and fuel economy. They really need to push hybrids. The competiton is FIERCE right now, everyone is coming out with better and better products. QUality for everyone is improving as if fuel economy.

Honda will figure out a way, there are millions of loyal customers here. I think being down 9% (Accord) and only 2,000 total sales for the year does not warrent an article though.

In contrast, Toyota had their greatest year ever last year, over $8billion in profit. They really did a great job with their SUV/Truck push. Honda has almost totally missed out here. Those vehicles drive profits.

MarkPinTx

Honda seems to build the vehicles we SHOULD drive (with the possible exception of being slightly behind Toyota on hybrids). A great example is the TSX. FWD with a four-banger. As much fun as a sane person should want. Yet what do we hear? MORE CYLINDERS! MORE TORQUE! REAR WHEEL DRIVE! ALL WHEEL DRIVE (I still kinda like 4wd myself)!

Detroit seems to thrive on building the bloated monsters we WANT to drive. As well as supplying large-displacement RWD vehicles. Notice how well Toyota especially follows this lead.

98AccordEx

I totally agree the article is fabricating a problem with such a paltry difference in sales. The author at times even reverses his title for the article to point out all the positves like reduced incentives.

As for the hybrid angle Toyota and Honda are going to fight it out for supremacy and the consumer is going to win, especially if gas prices keep increasing. And in the meantime, those same gas prices are going to bring in more Civic, Accord, TL, TSX, Pilot and Ody buyers because they all are leaders in their class for MPG and reliability.

Lets not forget Honda is a very profitable company too.