What's Honda doing wrong?

[95331140]

All top 10 manufacturers are UP, except Honda for YTD sales:

From:
http://www.themotorreport.com.au/50136/vfacts-march-car-sales-up-252-percent-a-confident-middle-australia

#1 Toyota - 20,306 sales - up 22.3 percent (March 2009), up 16.6 percent YTD
#2 Holden - 11,795 sales - up 28.4 percent, up 24.1 percent YTD
#3 Ford - 8,092 sales - up 6.9 percent, up 4.7 percent YTD
#4 Hyundai - 7,797 sales - up 58.9 percent, up 66.3 percent YTD
#5 Mazda - 7,453 sales - up 21.9 percent, up 11.0 percent YTD
#6 Nissan - 6,558 sales - up 49.2 percent, up 21.4 percent YTD
#7 Mitsubishi - 5,556 sales - up 18.4 percent, up 11.7 percent YTD
#8 Honda - 4,153 sales - up 24.0 percent, down 13.1 percent YTD
#9 Subaru - 3,679 sales - up 7.7 percent, up 10 percent YTD
#10 Volkswagen - 3,034 sales - up 20.3 percent, up 18 percent YTD

So what is Honda doing wrong, or could I ask, what are others doing better?

I think value wise, Honda Australia are making too many bad decisions when it comes to local specs for our cars. Overseas Honda's are better spec'd generally.

For instance, we should definitely get the Accord Coupe and Euro Wagon...

Comments?

Cheers - Mark.

[thegame888]

It's really a shame since Honda's are better engineered than most.

I think that they haven't been discounting as heavily as other manufacturers. Some of the other manufacturers have been offering alot of incentives in
order to keep their sales up, things like finance, cashback and lease deals.

In terms of their product offering, they have some interesting new cars like the City but I'm not sure if it really selling like they anticipated. It probably could
have been better executed.

Another thing I'm not happy about is the tendency to follow the motoring convention to make each subsequent model bigger and bigger. For example
the previous Euro was spot on for size whereas the new Euro looks too big.

I think at the end of the day the main driver of sales is marketing. Alot of consumers have no idea about mechanicals. What they care about is how much
perceived prestige a car has, the perceived status it gives them and the price it will cost to achieve these things.

Lol they don't really care that you can build a robot or that you have created a a prototype jet. The marketing department has struggled of late.

[fundies]

Simple.


Not made in Japan anymore. And strong competition, especially from the Koreans.

[xclusive_eg8]

would like to see 1990-2000 sales figures..That era was the best hondas in my opinion.

[timmy_honda]

well...what they can do is to bring down the prices
as well as getting more models, Ive seen all those little honda boxes in Japan
and omg they would've had a lot more sales because they are cheap and cheap on fuel
and they have made lots of bad decisions
we have the europe type R instead of the JDM one and the sh!tty looking City
no offense...but IMO they would have got more sales than they are now

[FitRS]

Simple.


Not made in Japan anymore. And strong competition, especially from the Koreans.

Honda Australia are greedy. They get a cheaper product from Thailand but still charge high prices. Mazda passenger cars are fully imported from Japan, yet are equally as competitive as Honda.

Honda rely too much on their past brand power as Japan's prestigious car manufacturer rather than providing a competitive product. In the end this business practise will ruin the company. Only diehards like us continue to purchase Hondas where most people can see that the Korean made cars are feature rich and also priced well.

The fact that both Nissan, who aren't doing that well globally and Mitsubishi who have bombed in the past are currently above Honda speaks volumes of the wrong policies that Honda are implementing. The Honda Japanese domestic products are superior, but we don't get these in Australia.

[90LAN]

mr honda died and lost his honda spirit

so making more a-b cars

not enough type r cars

but hey at least honda didnt get a hand out from government

cough **holden** cough

[Premature Vtec]

but hey at least honda didnt get a hand out from government

cough **holden** cough

hahaha

[OMG.JAI xD]

Look through this forum. I think it should be in the "News" section.

Wynode put up threads of new concept cars to come.

And I have stated one thing.

They all look the same.

Another comment i made was that honda lost the plot.
The biggest engine manufacturer in the world used to have a reputation with making strong, light, reliable and powerful motors. Not saying the K series is not all of the above. But when people are now realising the motors built within the 1990-2000 era was strong and can produce such power. Honda decided to make cars to better suit family's and aim for fuel economy. CR-Z hybrid type r.

Hybrid... Type R. Once when a car that wore a type R badge, wore the title of the worlds first mass produced vehicle to achieve the highest hp/litre.
Its a shame. Cause then the type R badge was given to a spaceship with no LSD and a solid rear torsion beam style suspension. No offense to the fn2r owners.
And now the type R badge is handed over to a hybrid vehicle.

Its ironic how Hondas motto is "Power of dreams"
Yet the most powerful car to come out of the factory is an nsx type-R. Which did not change for 15 years. Added 0.2L in engine capacity, an extra gear and a lighter chassis.
Grow up. The world caught on. Honda was ahead of its time back then. Now theyre behind in the race.

The future of honda?
A line up of hybrid cars. And cheap run around cars.

Its about time the company that says it has the power of dreams.. To dream about the power. Cause in this era. The most powerful engine honda has running the streets, is the k20. (in terms of hp/litre).
Vtec is overrated. Well. In a 4 cylinder at least. I doubt honda will ever produce a type R like the ek9 or the dc2R.

Long story short. Whats honda doing wrong?
Honda got boring.

[xclusive_eg8]

Honda need to make some modern day beasts,

some cars with the blood of EG6/9, EK9 AND alot of DC2R..

they evan stopped the s2000, *shaking head*

[SlobberGoat]

Honda have to stop trying to be a "toyota" and get back to being a "Honda".

[timmy_honda]

Honda have to stop trying to be a "toyota" and get back to being a "Honda".

Hahaahaaa this is so true.

[95331140]

I think the CEO of Honda Australia was recently changed. Maybe the old CEO was sacked by the board of directors due to the dwindling sales. Who knows! Too many poor decisions with respect to the models being imported. We firstly don't get enough models from Japan (Type R Civic Sedan, Stream) or the USA (Accord Coupe, Odyssey V6) here to Australia, plus the models we have here are the 'cut-down' versions of the ones produced overseas.

And as some of you have already mentioned, price wise, Honda Australia are greedy. Car quality is definitely down (Refer Jazz/Accord Dashboards) and feature wise, the Koreans are making a mockery of the Japanese cars. FFS, a Hyundai Getz now has Bluetooth standard, whereas Honda will want $600 for it! And power/torque/economy are equivalent in a Getz compared to the Jazz...ARRGHHH

[FitRS]

FFS, a Hyundai Getz now has Bluetooth standard, whereas Honda will want $600 for it!

And to make this Jazz related.. the F*****G arm rest console is not standard & costs an arm and a leg. That's just plain greed.

[95331140]

Yeah, true. It is greed.

If sales figures don't change over the next few months, and the rest of the market is powering ahead, I'm sure we'll see some more heads roll in head office.

Honda do make decent products, however the premium they charge can hardly be justified now days. Compare it to Sony of old. Sony used to make high quality goods and charge a little premium. However now, they either make cheap rubbish to compete and they also have their high end products. However it seems they are getting more skewed to compete on price, rather than innovation and quality.

[8100rpm]

honda should do what mazda is doing now or how honda use to be , and thats making every car fun to drive, not just their sports models, and the sports models(type R) super fun to drive. hell, mazda are even taking gram by gram off its mazda 2 so it can be fun, cant c why honda are not doing the same to its jazz. the other thing is they need to make their car look better, in my opinion the city and the civic hatch( not the type r) looks sh!t! and speaking of civic hatch(not the type r), have u guys check the price on that? it cost a fortune for what u get. honda are trying to place it self closer to bmw end by jacking up the price. how many of you have walk into a show room and the sales guy tell you its time to move up to honda? i was like what the hell. though i still love my new civic, so comfortable just not sporty enough i reckon

[cutandpaste]

I think the CEO of Honda Australia was recently changed. Maybe the old CEO was sacked by the board of directors due to the dwindling sales. Who knows!

The japanese HQ send out a new CEO every three years.

[junoki]

if honda wants to bump their percentile up -
1. make more RRRR hondas,
2. and for god sake bring the FD2r into OZ (wots the matter wiff those honda bigwigs)

IMO....heheh

[junoki]

ftmfw!!!

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_xAW6O1fFlVQ/SZVo8OeWsKI/AAAAAAAAAt0/609PL5k6alA/s400/hh8.jpg

[95331140]

2. and for god sake bring the FD2r into OZ (wots the matter wiff those honda bigwigs)

You can forget that idea, because last week, Honda Japan is going to stop production of the FDR2..hopeless!!

[Mikecivic78]

ftmfw!!!

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_xAW6O1fFlVQ/SZVo8OeWsKI/AAAAAAAAAt0/609PL5k6alA/s400/hh8.jpg

Nice looking Jap girls :P

I agree with OMG.JAI xD. The new Civic type r is the only performance model offered atm. Honda have tighted their belt since the GFC and are being tightarses. Torsion beam and no LSD on a type r, WTF?

The halcion days of the 90s are long gone, but there are still some good examples to be found if u look hard.

Look at Nissan and Toyota, they don't offer many true performance cars anymore. The 90s were the era of the coupe, whereas the 2000s seems to be the era of the soft SUV and 4-door saloon. I really lament the death of the mighty Integra.

In 10 years time, the cars of Honda's glory days will have too many thrashings and Ks to be worth buying. Lets enjoy them while we can.

[Wez_R]

they need to make v6 models! and a new honda integra/prelude haha

[pure_na]

fark you made me start thinking, what if honda released a new integra chasis, type r, a new civic chasis, type r, and a new s2k, with a new s2k type r. farken hell, i sure have the power to dream :P

[Wez_R]

fark you made me start thinking, what if honda released a new integra chasis, type r, a new civic chasis, type r, and a new s2k, with a new s2k type r. farken hell, i sure have the power to dream :P

haha i was thinking the same

[bc143]

Honda Australia are greedy. They get a cheaper product from Thailand but still charge high prices. Mazda passenger cars are fully imported from Japan, yet are equally as competitive as Honda.

Honda rely too much on their past brand power as Japan's prestigious car manufacturer rather than providing a competitive product. In the end this business practise will ruin the company. Only diehards like us continue to purchase Hondas where most people can see that the Korean made cars are feature rich and also priced well.

The fact that both Nissan, who aren't doing that well globally and Mitsubishi who have bombed in the past are currently above Honda speaks volumes of the wrong policies that Honda are implementing. The Honda Japanese domestic products are superior, but we don't get these in Australia.

as honda is struggling oversea n they chop their sport model but 120% agree they just too greedy (honda australia)
I try both GE jazz n their City , over my old GD the GE is a tad better but for city definitely is gettting worse.
Cut it short:
they wasted their $ n effort on bring in the wrong product THE LEGEND? how many lucky one seen it on road n can tell it's a$80k worth 4wd accord? MDX? huh for it's 4WD ability or brand value (jap x5? sorry u r not)?
jazz high in price but lowon spec ie. missing the moon roof - fiat 500 n a lot other cars hv it!!
Accord 2.4 entry level same price as a aurion 3.5 v6 !?
for the price n spec CRV....dunno why they strill bother tio make such an effort woth other offer cheaper, if not better atleast = product VW tiguan plus......
people mover? anyone try to get in n out from a oddesy third row ?
plus alot more...
all these actually hv solution and it doesn't take a master degree to find out (i just a truck driver) but it's all greed n wrong prospective market (while government say we r in very good economic, who 's in it?).
may be enough whinging. thanks for the space :)

[Mikecivic78]

Actually, as far a people movers go, the Odyssey is definitely the best looking.

The new one has got some real style (if a people mover can actually have style). the front end looks sick IMO.

New Civic sedan is a nice car. Fully independent supension and sick interior, as long as the thai worker isnt drunk and fit and finish suffer. Sport is too soft and slow however. IMO a stock EM1 could own it.

If they introduced the Type R civic sedan, I think it would sell well. I'd definitely choose it over a WRX or an EVO.