heyitsme

Honda, Honda PR. An operative from Honda PR (who shall remain nameless) took great umbrage (via an email sent to us last Friday) with our portrayal of Honda's 2003 sales figures (their car sales are down) in last week's "On the Table" col, in which we referred to a cover story in Automotive News on the same subject. He even suggested that we take a Journalism 101 class and that we should "check our facts" about Honda's glowing sales numbers and that we should "take a moment and set the record straight" for our readers. While we were mulling over just how we'd inform our readers of this communication, John O'Dell, a Staff Writer for the Los Angeles Times, wrote a story this past Monday with the headline "Civic Slump Puts a Dent in Honda's Armor." O'Dell opened his story with the following: "Superman isn't supposed to catch colds, gamblers aren't supposed to beat the house in Las Vegas and Honda's car sales aren't supposed to slump. But for the last two years, largely because of the softening popularity of its aging Civic compact sedan, Honda Motor Co.'s passenger car sales in the U.S. have dropped, falling 8.8% since hitting an all-time high in 2001. Last year, sales of the company's Honda and Acura brand passenger cars were off a combined 3.2%, after falling 6.8% in 2002." He then went on to point out that overall Honda sales were actually up 8.2% in 2003, thanks to the Pilot and the MDX, which is what the Honda PR operative was squawking about, but the fact remains that Honda car sales are faltering, and they're even giving dealers between $400 and $800 to help move the sluggish-selling Civic through March. O'Dell went on to quote ace industry analyst Art Spinella, president of CNW Marketing Research in Bandon, Ore., as saying, "It is getting tougher out there and we fully expect Honda to lose some market share in 2004...everyone's gunning for them." We thought the "Journalism 101" reference was cute, albeit amazingly unoriginal, but the only record that needs to be set straight here is the fact that Honda and their PR operatives are incapable of facing the music with their sales numbers. This is due, in large part, to the fact that Honda (and Toyota for that matter) has been getting a free ride from the automotive media for years - with the closet Honda zealots among them having perpetuated the idea that the two leading Japanese manufacturers are infallible - with Honda in particular wallowing in high praise seemingly with each new issue of every car publication known to humans (except for us, thankfully - ed.). So it's no wonder that the well-meaning Honda PR operative would quake in his Dockers (and official Honda-branded polo shirt) with the thought that some media outlets, including us, are no longer willing to take the Honda view of the world, hook, line and sinker as has traditionally been the case. The fact of the matter is that Honda used to be a cool car company, jam-packed with distinctive, march-to-a-different-drummer-type products that bristled with ingenuity and creativity. But lately, Honda has demonstrated that it's no different from any other car company, import or domestic - especially after their dismal performance during the Detroit Auto Show media preview days, when they debuted the new Pilot SUT concept, which was shockingly the most tedious concept masquerading as a "breakthrough" product that was introduced at the show. To say that the Pilot SUT was very "un-Honda-like" would be the understatement of this young year. Of course, true to form, Honda executives then proceeded to bore the assembled media with their usual "Aww, shucks, we're just a humble little car company" routine - an act that grew stale at least five years ago. But the tone of their speeches did accomplish one thing, however, as it served to remind everyone yet again how Honda has such a precious view of themselves and just how far removed their view of their current place in the automotive world is from the new reality that's facing them. A reality where the world remarkably no longer revolves around Honda - which makes the missive fired at us by the Honda PR operative even more ludicrous. That being said, Honda does have some bright spots in their lineup (the S2000 being our clear favorite), but they have their share of dogs, too - starting with the decidedly lackluster Civic and the woefully uncompetitive Civic Si. The real problem for Honda and Honda PR is that all of a sudden the automotive media (and surprisingly, the non-automotive media too) doesn't seem to be so eager to genuflect and leave offerings in front of the Honda altar. And Honda executives, along with their PR minions, literally don't have a clue about how to function in a world constructed like that. In this market, the difference between a star and an also-ran is razor-thin - and Honda finds itself dangling dangerously close to the rest of the pack for the first time. There are several car companies challenging Honda's reputation for engineering creativity and ingenuity, and now Honda is faced with having to remind everyone of their raison d'etre. But wait a minute - isn't it officially named the Honda Motor Company? And hasn't Honda had their asses handed to them in F1, with their motor clearly under performing against its rivals (Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, Ford/Jaguar and Renault) for the last five seasons? And haven't they gotten their butts kicked in the Indy Racing League by Toyota and the Cosworth-engineered Chevrolet? Yes and yes. Honda has basically lost its mojo, and they're floundering and flailing around trying to regain their footing. But it's a different automotive world out there now, one not as willing to accept Honda at face value. And when you look deeper at what's going on, Honda seems to be veering awkwardly toward becoming (oh, nooo!) just another car company. We suggested to their PR operative in our response that Honda PR would be better off focusing on transforming Honda's "holier that thou" image into something more relevant in today's hotly competitive market - instead of worrying about "setting the record straight" with Autoextremist.com. And frankly, when it comes to PR - they pretty much suck at it, so we won't hold our collective breath waiting for them to get their [censored] together. In short, Honda has been resting on its laurels for far too long. Instead of creating dominating racing engines and breakthrough products, it's all about Ass-imo robots and "me-too" SUTs. How the mighty have fallen.

heyitsme

melo72

Wow. Quite a long and difficult read without any breaks, but pretty true. What magazine AutoExtremist.com?

ItalianStallion

youve got it.

kansaiwalker1

While I don't yet believe Honda had lost its "mojo" yet I think a lot of good points have been raised. Just slapping a big Honda H on the hood of a car doesn't automatically mean its the best in its class anymore.

The current Civic Si is the perfect example. With a measely 160hp it can't compete with anything in its class yet Honda still doesn't get it and send over the 200hp Type R.

It will be interesting to see how well and how fast Honda responds in the increasingly competitive NA car market. Compared with the Detroit 3 Honda still has more strengths than waeknesses.

kansaiwalker1

Here's a related article from autoweek:

Honda revs incentives, ad spending; aging Civic targeted


By KATHY JACKSON | Automotive News

DETROIT -- Stung by two straight years of lower sales of cars in general and for the bread-and-butter Civic specifically, Honda Division is boosting spending on incentives and advertising.

Civic sales were down 4.3 percent last year, while Honda Division's overall car sales slipped 2.7 percent.

In a bid to turn the tide, Honda will boost its first-quarter ad budget by 50 percent over a year earlier to an estimated $156 million. That would be one of the highest quarterly figures in Honda Division's history.

Honda also will pay dealers $400 for each Civic they sell through March. If dealers meet certain company sales goals, Honda will boost payments to $800 per Civic, retroactive to Dec. 20, when the program started.

"We're not panicked," said American Honda Executive Vice President Dick Colliver in an interview last week at the Detroit auto show. "We see an opportunity in the first quarter when most (of the industry) is sleeping."

Honda is not accustomed to incentive-driven marketing campaigns because its vehicles typically are in high demand. The division spent no money on consumer spiffs last year, and it spends far less on overall incentives than General Motors, Ford Motor Chrysler group or Toyota Division.

Colliver said he has no plans to offer consumer incentives, but he agrees that dealer incentives were needed.

"We've seen a decline in the small passenger car segment over the last three years so we need incentives," Colliver said. "We must continue to hold our guns."

Colliver projects sales of 1.4 million for American Honda this year, up about 3.7 percent.

He says about 184,000 of those sales will be Acuras.

The new marketing campaign comes at a time when Honda dealers were getting edgy.

In 2002, Civic sales had slumped 5.6 percent, while Honda Division's car sales fell 5.8 percent.

Honda Division's car sales remained weak in 2003, and dealers complained that the Civic is getting old.

"Civic is our weak link," says Honda dealer council chair Michael Zimbrick, co-CEO of Zimbrick Inc., in Madison, Wis.

"We told the company that we needed more marketing dollars and innovative ways to move the Civic."

According to the Automotive News Data Center, Honda had a 76-day supply of Civics on Jan. 1. Last year, the company typically had a 62-day supply.

Despite the rising inventories and declining sales, Honda is hardly a basket case.

Overall sales of Honda and Acura cars and trucks surged 8.2 percent last year.

But the gain was fueled by truck sales, which soared 32.6 percent for Honda Division and 8.2 percent at Acura.

Although Honda was the No. 4 best selling car brand in the United States last year, the same position it held in 2002, it fell further behind the No. 3 seller.

In 2002, Honda trailed No. 3 Chevy by 20,589 units. But last year it trailed No. 3 Ford Division by 85,821 sales. Meanwhile, sales of Toyota Division, the No. 1 car seller in the United States last year, rose 2.7 percent, and No. 2 Chevy's sales soared 7.1 percent.

Art Spinella, president of CNW Marketing/Research Inc., in Bandon, Ore., says he is not surprised by Honda's action.

"We're looking at a very strong General Motors this year; Nissan is pushing cars; and Toyota is gonna push back," Spinella says.

"Honda will have to step up. But the good part is that Honda has a lot of room because they have been at such low incentive levels."

According to CNW, Honda spent $1,096 per vehicle on incentives last year, compared with $4,106 for GM and $2,393 for Toyota.

The upcoming ad campaign will cover the entire Honda line.

Colliver said most of the increased spending will go into TV, magazines and newspapers.

According to Competitive Media Reporting in New York, Honda Division spent an estimated $104.2 million on measured media in the first quarter of 2003, up from $91.6 million a year earlier and $93.8 million in the 2001 quarter.