http://reviews.cnet.com/suv/2011-acu...contentBody;3r
Finding ourselves hot on the tail of a fellow enthusiast in a Volkswagen GTI, we were impressed by how well our 4,550-pound beast stuck to the rear bumper of the nimble hatchback. Of course, with almost 100 horsepower more, you'd expect the MDX to keep up with the VW on the straights, but on twisty roads such as this one, raw power loses to handling. Still, there we were, keeping up the chase through the mountains. There was a noticeable bit of body roll, but the MDX felt planted through the gentler turns and the SH-AWD system brought the vehicle's tail around nicely in the more aggressive switchbacks.
Reaching the top of the hill, we paused to give our arms a break from sawing away at the steering wheel, when we noticed that during the entire trip up the mountain, the MDX's adjustable suspension had been in its Comfort mode. Switching the suspension into its Sport setting to match the transmission, we again tossed the MDX into the twists and turns of the mountain road--this time headed downhill. The difference in the handing characteristics of the SUV was immediately noticeable. The body roll we noticed on the way up was drastically reduced, allowing the MDX to stay flatter in the turns and enabling the SH-AWD system to really scoot the ute's tail end around as we powered through turns at speeds that a seven-passenger SUV shouldn't be capable of. We found ourselves grinning as we dove into bends carrying more and more speed before our fun was abruptly brought to a halt by a flashing amber light on the instrument cluster.

Hyundai has pretty similar deals as Honda. and Honda vehicles are strip down compared to Hyundia. No 6 speed auto or push start or DI engines. Honda is still selling 15 year old technology. IF BMW tries to do the same like Honda. They will have take 50% of price. Hyundai/Kia wont even sell.

Genesis V8 is $7k off.

http://stevenscreekhyundai.rtrk.com/...id=14834105755

According to Truecar, H/K's incentive spending per vehicle was $1,223 while Honda/Acura's was $2,398 or 5.6% and 9.0% in relation to avg. transaction price.

http://blog.truecar.com/2012/05/01/t...o-truecar-com/

Take out Kia and Hyundai's incentive spending is more like $900 per vehicle.

This is part of the reason why Hyundai has the 2nd best margins in the industry after BMW.

Automakers in the U.S. increased spending on incentives in April by 4.7 percent to an average of $2,428 per vehicle, according to Autodata Corp.

Nissan Motor Co. (7201) boosted spending on discounts and promotions by 19 percent to $2,375 per vehicle, Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey-based Autodata said in an e-mailed statement. Chrysler Group LLC, majority owned by Fiat SpA (F), raised incentives by 17 percent to an average of $3,283, the researcher said.

Honda Motor Co.’s spending rose 15 percent to $2,486 on average. Toyota Motor Corp. (7203)’s discounts and promotions fell 11 percent to $1,688. Incentives increased 3.1 percent for General Motors Co. (GM) and 0.9 percent for Ford Motor Co. (F)

According to research by Edmunds.com, the $19,711 average transaction price of the 2012 Hyundai Elantra is besting that of its chief rivals, the Toyota Corolla by $1,500 and the new Honda Civic by $500. The great big cherry on top of that sundae for Hyundai? Elantra sales were up more than 40 percent last year.

There are more Genesis to sell b/c more Genesis are being sold.

Honda used to have the lowest amount of incentive spending in the industry.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-0...data-says.html

Now, according to some analysts, Honda's spends more on incentives than Nissan.

Honda has been throwing incentives at not only the Accord, but the "new" Civic as well. The new CR-V, otoh, has been selling well w/o any such incentives (as it should for a new model).

And the Elantra is besting the Civic (and Corolla) in ATP.

First show me inventory of RL before making statements that Acura cannot move them.

Why not admit it. that maximum price of Genesis is lower than RL. but still it needs big incentives. It has $1500 competitive offer. The car was numerous times since its introduction in 2008.

Honda does not sell crap to Fleets. so its incentives cannot be more than Nissan periord. Elantra offer alot more than Civic for same price. The long warranty, 6speed auto,rearview camera,push buttton start, road side assistance etc. Civic is the same as it was introduced in Summer of 2005.

"The consumer is back for Toyota," said AutoNation COO Mike Maroone. "That's more important than Toyota getting product back."

But it's a different story at Honda. While its bigger rival shakes off two years of turmoil, Honda is still struggling, still trying to rebound from the March 2011 earthquake in Japan and a disappointing response to some of its new models last year.

"Toyota is back, and all the way back in just four months," said TrueCar.com analyst Jesse Toprak. "Meanwhile, Honda may be discovering that some of its 2011 losses are permanent."

Toyota Motor and Chrysler Group, which was up 20 percent, were the only major groups to outperform the U.S. market's 2 percent sales gain in April. Hyundai-Kia eked out a 1 percent increase, and Nissan North America was flat. Ford Motor Co. was down 5 percent, and General Motors dropped 8 percent.

But sales of 1.2 million light vehicles kept the seasonally adjusted annual selling rate at 14.4 million, the same as March and the fourth straight month above 14 million.

How did Toyota get its customers back so quickly?

Not only did it restock; it rearmed with a redesigned Camry and other new models. And with the demand for more fuel-efficient vehicles, Prius sales surged 102 percent in April and are up 56 percent for the year.

Meanwhile, sales of Honda's most fuel-efficient cars are lagging, even with gasoline not far below $4 a gallon.

Toyota also was a bit faster than Honda in restoring its global production and resupplying U.S. dealers. Still, Maroone said, Honda has plenty of vehicles to sell.

Toyota has closed the gap with the U.S. sales leaders. In April, Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. pulled within 2,000 units of No. 2 Ford Motor and 36,000 units of No. 1 GM.

Among brands, Toyota Division, up 14 percent over last year, finished only 500 units behind No. 2 Chevrolet and 18,000 behind No. 1 Ford. Among the five top-selling brands, only Toyota improved over April 2011.

American Honda fell 2 percent compared with April 2011, its 10th year-on-year decline in 12 months. The group's 9.5 percent market share in the first four months of 2012 was 0.8 percentage points below the same period last year.

Honda executives say the year-on-year comparisons are somewhat skewed. Last April, the Honda brand was up 10 percent, and Acura rose 8 percent as customers anticipated that the quake would soon cause a shortage of vehicles.

Boosting incentives
Toyota is not all the way back. It is still well short of its peak 17 percent share in 2009 before the unintended-acceleration controversy hurt its image. To regain ground, both Toyota and Honda have boosted incentives substantially.

Just three years ago the two had the lowest incentives in the industry. Last month, Honda spent $2,398 per vehicle, $48 below the industry average. And while Toyota's April incentives were about $50 lower than last year, its $1,823 average was $600 higher than Hyundai-Kia's.

And Toyota will keep the pressure on. It started May with an incentives push: 0 percent financing on its seven best-selling models and special lease rates on "nearly every model in our lineup," Carter said.

Meanwhile, Toyota is boosting capacity at its 14 North American plants.

Toyota has boosted fleet sales to "an untypical high" 15 percent of its U.S. sales mix so far this year, Carter said, rather than its normal 8 to 9 percent.

Toyota says it is supplying fleet buyers after it diverted sales to retail during the shortage last year and it will continue the fleet emphasis in May.

Honda can't match that. It lets dealers handle all fleet sales. Most industry insiders estimate fleet at a flat 2 percent of Honda overall sales.

Both Toyota and Honda have problem areas in their lineups.

While Camry and Prius hybrid sales are strong, Toyota Corolla volume is down 8 percent this year, and that will continue until production ramps up at the new Tupelo, Miss., plant. Sales of the Tundra pickup also are down.

At Honda, the redesigned CR-V is up 24 percent through April, replacing the outgoing Accord sedan as the brand's top seller, 98,214 to 96,517. But Honda's fuel-sippers haven't benefited much from the high price of gasoline. So far the Fit small car is down 33 percent, the CR-Z coupe is off 69 percent, and Insight hybrid is down 65 percent. Civic sales fell 9 percent in April.

Spokesman Chuck Schifsky concedes that Honda is not all the way back.

"Dealers don't have the selection they want yet," he said. "They may be short on hot products, such as the CR-V. Production is back to normal but getting dealers back to normal may take a little longer. We're fairly happy but it's a work in progress."