gilboman

I was in japan for the past few days and i've seen so few Hondas and Acuras, all i see are Toyotas, Nissans,Lexus...i even see more Mitsubishis than Honda/Acuras...

Its even worse in Hong Kong, i've seen 3 Hondas/Acuras since i arrived last nite and there are way more BMW,Audi,Lexus than Honda/Acura....

i've asked around and the response most people give is why would i want a Honda/Acura??

it's just weird to see so many Honda's in NA but so few in Asia...i will report back from other south asian contries as i con't my vacation

tinyau01

Cause too many luxury and performance car better than Honda/Acura in Asia.

larchmont

Dunno.....but cool trip!

Interesting observations.

I'm sure sales figures in each country are available -- Do they bear out Gilbo's observations?

Theory: Maybe all the Honda/Acura people made sure to leave on their own vacations because they heard Gilbo was coming?

j/k Gilbo, j/k.

....and besides I forgot about what Tink says down there........

TinkySD

you should see zero acuras since that brand doesn't exist there

smap

correct........................

BuddySol

When I was in Japan, the Fit was in the middle of it's boom and Honda had re-defined it's name in Japan by bumping off Nissan. I can tell you there are many Fits roaming around Japan. As well as a bunch of Oddys and their smaller cars such as That's, Life, Life Dunk, and the Step Wagon. Of course, Toyotas are everywhere, just look at their Japanese lineup. The list of cars just doesn't end. The only Nissans I noticed were the countless #s of Skylines, 180's, and Silvias. Daihatsu, Suzuki hold a nice chunk of the small car market. I think Honda has a good chunk of the Japanese market, not as small as you make it seem to appear.

picker

How exactly did you see lexus in japan when the brand doesn't exist there?

bob shiftright

world.honda.com/investors/meeting/information-meeting/ ny-HondaUpdate02-May.2003.pdf

There are no Acuras in Japan (yet) or anywhere but North America for reasons already explored here.

According to HONDA as of the most recent year's sales figures Japanese domestic automobile market shares are: #1 Toyota 29%, #2 Honda 15.6%, #3 Nissan 13.4%, #4 Suzuki 10.8% and #5 Mitsubishi 7.2%.

Honda also has 4 of the 10 top selling MODELS in Japan, the "Stream", the "StepWGN", the "Fit" and the Odyssey. The only nameplate we see is "Odyssey" and their Odyssey is a lot smaller than our Odyssey.

http://www.honda.co.jp/

Honda also has a huge chunk of the Asian motorcycle market, about one THIRD.

The model distribution isn't the same in Japan as in the US, and Honda tailors it's product line to the regional markets, eg. we Americans get a bigger Accord with wider seats for our bigger, Jabba the Hutt size butts.

China, with a per-capita GDP of $4700 vs. the US $36,300 gets more motorcycles and scooters and microcars. So you should be finding a lot of Honda products all over Asia they're just not the same ones you see in the US.

larchmont

Supports my theory.

esr5096

I was just browsing the honda japan web site posted by bob shiftright. Now, I don't read japanese, but I managed to get to the page where they list all their cars, http://www.honda.co.jp/auto-lineup/. It looks like they have 35, yes 35 models, though, that's not quite true being there are multiple listings for types of cars, but still, a lot. Why don't they bring some more of those over here? They have an MDX on there, with a big 'H' where we usually see an 'A', and a whole bunch of funny looking van-like things. They seem to get the TSX (Accord), and the US-Accord (inspire). You'd think they'd bring some more models over here.

TinkySD

Anyone else notice larch's post times? 12am then 6 am...I think he must never sleep

larchmont

(Tink is on California time. Anywhere else, there's more hours in between.)

BuddySol

Have you counted Toyota's list? They have 77 cars listed. Nissan has about 39 cars listed. Most of those cars that aren't sold here are K-cars, I doubt they would be well recieved in the US. Altho, I'm sure most Japanese automakers are watching the Scion brand to see how well the xA and xB will do.

justinjsw

Good old reliable Mr Gilboman. Always is the first to report back on something negative. Like Larch said maybe they all stashed their hondas when they found out Gilbo was showing up.

kurt_bradley

Not to mention hiding their daughters.

Brad

We have a reskinned version of the Honda MDX here with a big "H" on it. It's called the Honda Pilot.

Many of the models that I've seen on Honda's Japan Web site are very very small cars and vans. Perhaps Honda feels that these itsy bitsy teeny weenie vehicles are not appropriate for the NA market--a market where big gas-guzzling vehicles command a hefty share of the market.

Honda (and others with a plethora of small car models) would have to add a lot of weight to these small cars to make them conform to Federal regulations.

Another concern are the well-publicized crash tests. Squash and splat?

phile

No, the car he's talking about is indeed an Acura MDX with the Honda logo on it, they didn't even change the name, it's known as the MDX in Japan as well. Honda brought it over to Japan just almost a year ago; it was introduced in the US first, just like the Pilot and Element.

MSZ

just one note...

Since I was born in HK I can tell ya Acura DOES exist in HK: NSX, old TL and RL.

But I don't understand whats the point of selling RIGHT HAND DRIVE Acuras in HK???

Brad

YES, the Acura MDX is the Honda MDX. That's not in dispute. In NA we have an additional variant built on the same platform, the same assembly line, the same commonality of parts, but with reskinned sheet metal work and other cosmetic wrinkles. It's called the Honda Pilot.

What's the dispute for you to say "no"?

STC

iTrader: (1)

why woulf u want a Honda, when you get WAY better cars over there! i know I wouldnt!

STC

iTrader: (1)

Acuras are not in HK. The only Acuras u see are the people doing USDM badges and stuff like we do JDM stuff.

Right Hand Drive is how the cars are made in Japan. Then shipped to HK.

fdl

Now I've seen it all! gilboman goes on vacation half way around the world and still finds the time, and a computer, to slam honda/acura on a-tsx

Actually...its an interesting observation ...but we cant read too much into what one person see's during a limited amount of time is (i'm assuming) very select and specific areas. There are countless reasons why one could see very few hondas, from it just being chance ...to you being in a wealthier area. We'd definately need to see sales figures to add any credibility to this.

but again..its an interesting observation.

phile

I thought you were pointing out to him that the MDX wasn't available in the US (becase you were pointing out that we have a reskinned version called the Pilot, which, to me, implied that we didn't have the original). I mean, why you do that...it's not like it's a big secret.

MSZ

I hate to break someone's heart:

http://www.acura.com.hk/

http://www.acura.com.hk/aboutus/index.html

gilboman

um..it has existed there for a while already... but they have just recently revved up their marketing efforts

gilboman

and in response to those who found some market share/sales of Honda....do they include trucks,light trucks/vans?? because a very large proportion of vehicles are either those microvans or the larger 16passenger versions used by transit systems...and 50%+ of those are Toyotas and then the rest is a mmix of everything and i havent seen a honda truck or van and only a few FCX (small suv) while the roads are filled with Lexus RX and Toyota Harriers....

dom

Gilbo are you sure that Lexus RX is'nt a Toyota RX. They don't sell Lexus in Japan yet, they just announced that they are going to start selling them next year. A Lexus rebadged Toyota is not a Lexus.


Here are the facts. YTD 2003

Toyota

Passenger Cars - 732,265
Trucks - 157,389
Buses - 3,507
Total - 893,161

Nissan

Passenger - 310,609
Trucks - 116,260
Buses - 2,391
Total - 429,260

Misubishi I've added Mitsubishi Fuso to these Totals. They only make Trucks and Buses.

Passenger - 148,694
Trucks - 84,369
Buses - 2,439
Total - 235,502

Mazda

Passenger - 122,526
Trucks - 24,092
Buses - 0
Total - 146,618

Honda

Passenger - 337,364
Trucks - 24,191
Buses - 0
Total - 361,555

Edit: Here's a few I left out.

Suzuki

Passenger - 253,382
Trucks - 87,602
Buses - 0
Total - 340,984

Daihatsu
Passenger - 216,341
Trucks - 73,375
Buses - 0
Total - 289,716

Subaru

Passenger - 78,744
Trucks - 42,663
Buses - 0
Total - 121,407



Here's my source
http://www.jama.org/statistics/motor..._makeMonth.htm


So Honda sells more Passenger cars than Nissan, but nowhere near the amount of Trucks. In fact Honda sells less trucks then Suzuki, Subaru and Daihatsu. Gilbo should be seeing more Toyotas and Nissans than Hondas. But as you can see Gilbo, Honda it outselling Mitsubishi quite comfortably. You should be seeing more Suzuki's as well.

2004_Acura_TSX

When I went to Beijing last summer I saw quite a few Odys and CR-Vs and I saw tons of Accords.....not many Civics. Also, note that the Accords and Odyessys are made in Guangzhou. Looks like Honda is quite popular in China. I was surprised.

STC

iTrader: (1)

Sweet, didnt know that. I dont remember seeing an Acura "dealership" in HK when I was there 2 yrs ago and I was everywhere in HK.

Theyre still RHD though. They just swapped the badges so it will be "luxury". Pretty smart on Reliance Motors, market a luxury Honda and people will buy!

2004_Acura_TSX

The Lexus RX is known as the Toyota Harrier in Japan.

STC

iTrader: (1)

Because the rest of the cars of RHD......

dom

Like I said its a Toyota not a Lexus. Gilbo said he's seeing Lexus.

phile

(He's lying).

dom

Why is that in brackets? What am I missing?

phile

(Nothing, I was "whispering").

dom

Oh, and yes I agree. I think Gilbo's lying. He was probly driving on Spadina (Toronto's Chinatown district) and thought he was in Japan

MSZ

well, my point is: if they can sell RHD Acuras in HK they can do the same in other RHD countries too like UK. I guess they are not quite ready to challenge Lexus yet world-wide...

Mokos23

i know some people in the USA would want honda/acura to bring the accord wagon back here too. do they still sell the prelude in japan? i wish they brought the nissan skyline here to the USA, no not the g35, but the one i saw in gran turismo before.

picker

Umm..wrong.

MSZ

the Skylines you saw in the GT series were all old models like R31, R32, R33 and R34. Theres no chances at all you will see any of those here.

BTW, G35 IS Skyline V35(R series is dead) in Japan.