Honda Car Forum

#1, install reliable automatic transmission in their vehicles and extend
the automatic transmission warranty to at least 100,000 miles for all
years, all models.

#2, Make good looking vehicles. The Ridgeline is plug ugly. Most
other current Honda models are in the barely acceptable category.
Honda seems to have no workable design language for it's current US
lineup and is loosing sales as a result.

Honda was up 4% in the US last year. Toyota was up 10%. Nissan was up
9%. Hyundai was up 9% on the year and 16% in December. Honda's December
sales were down 3%. Toyota December sales were up 9%. Trend wise,
Honda is falling off the pace while Toyota and Hyundai are pulling
strong. I see Toyota and Hyundai as the real competition for Honda in
the US market today. Hyundai has pulled itself up by the bootstraps
into the first tier of auto manufacturers in historically record time.

All data is from:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060105/..._ge/auto_sales

Honda management seems to be loosing it's way in recent years on certain
quality control issues and on styling. An insular culture and
corporate arrogance are what brought GM down in the long haul. Honda
had better watch out for the same problem.

John

Try driving a Oddesey or new Civic hybrid and report back.


"John Horner" <jthorner@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:PB1vf.5480$QI6.627@trnddc07...
> #1, install reliable automatic transmission in their vehicles and extend
> the automatic transmission warranty to at least 100,000 miles for all
> years, all models.
>
> #2, Make good looking vehicles. The Ridgeline is plug ugly. Most other
> current Honda models are in the barely acceptable category. Honda seems to
> have no workable design language for it's current US lineup and is loosing
> sales as a result.
>
> Honda was up 4% in the US last year. Toyota was up 10%. Nissan was up 9%.
> Hyundai was up 9% on the year and 16% in December. Honda's December sales
> were down 3%. Toyota December sales were up 9%. Trend wise, Honda is
> falling off the pace while Toyota and Hyundai are pulling strong. I see
> Toyota and Hyundai as the real competition for Honda in the US market
> today. Hyundai has pulled itself up by the bootstraps into the first tier
> of auto manufacturers in historically record time.
>
> All data is from:
> http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060105/..._ge/auto_sales
>
> Honda management seems to be loosing it's way in recent years on certain
> quality control issues and on styling. An insular culture and corporate
> arrogance are what brought GM down in the long haul. Honda had better
> watch out for the same problem.
>
> John
>

John Horner wrote:
> #2, Make good looking vehicles. The Ridgeline is plug ugly. Most
> other current Honda models are in the barely acceptable category.

I like almost all of the Honda's looks. Yeah, Ridgeline's kind of ugly.
Reminds me of GM's half pickups. Do you include Acuras in the list?
Acuras look pretty nice too. The new Civic looks great.

On the other hand, I dislike almost all of Toyota's car looks: Corolla,
Camry, Solara, Prius.

Why they stopped using amber rear turn signals is beyond me....

I was behind a new Accord that had its turn signal flashing -- but I had to
look two or three times to be sure that's what was happening. Of course, for
those who don't USE turn signals, well.... never mind. ;-)

Make a new CRX and a new Prelude,at reasonable prices,with reasonable
horsepower.
Also,Mazda makes their very popular Miata,and Honda's S2000 is far higher
in price.

Honda needs to look at what the "tuners" are doing with older Hondas and
other makes of autos;that's what the younger crowd wants to buy.

Instead,their products keep getting bigger and bigger,heavier,more and more
"same as everybody else".



--
Jim Yanik
jyanik
at
kua.net

On 5 Jan 2006 15:00:44 GMT, Jim Yanik <jyanik@abuse.gov> wrote:

>Make a new CRX and a new Prelude,at reasonable prices,with reasonable
>horsepower.
>Also,Mazda makes their very popular Miata,and Honda's S2000 is far higher
>in price.

the new MX5 (aka miata) is even better than the old one. shold be
comming stateside in a year or two.

>
>Honda needs to look at what the "tuners" are doing with older Hondas and
>other makes of autos;that's what the younger crowd wants to buy.
>
>Instead,their products keep getting bigger and bigger,heavier,more and more
>"same as everybody else".

Howard Lester wrote:
> Why they stopped using amber rear turn signals is beyond me....

What are they, white now? I think that's just the trend in the auto
industry.

"Bucky" wrote

> Howard Lester wrote:
>> Why they stopped using amber rear turn signals is beyond me....
>
> What are they, white now? I think that's just the trend in the auto
> industry.

No, they're red, and far less visible than they ever were before. *I* need
to see what drivers' intentions are. "Foreign" manufacturers were the leader
in this important safety issue; apparently some, like Honda, don't give a
rat's ass anymore. Besides, design-wise, the new taillights look awful. I
know, there's no accounting for taste.

On Thu, 05 Jan 2006 04:51:59 GMT, John Horner <jthorner@yahoo.com>
wrote:

>#1, install reliable automatic transmission in their vehicles and extend
>the automatic transmission warranty to at least 100,000 miles for all
>years, all models.

They would lose me as a customer since I wouldn't buy a small/sporty
car with an AT.

>#2, Make good looking vehicles. The Ridgeline is plug ugly. Most
>other current Honda models are in the barely acceptable category.
>Honda seems to have no workable design language for it's current US
>lineup and is loosing sales as a result.

Don't care much what they look like. Agree Ridgeline is butt ugly but
I think the whole concept is stupid.

>Honda was up 4% in the US last year. Toyota was up 10%. Nissan was up
>9%. Hyundai was up 9% on the year and 16% in December. Honda's December
>sales were down 3%. Toyota December sales were up 9%. Trend wise,
>Honda is falling off the pace while Toyota and Hyundai are pulling
>strong. I see Toyota and Hyundai as the real competition for Honda in
>the US market today. Hyundai has pulled itself up by the bootstraps
>into the first tier of auto manufacturers in historically record time.

I suspect that part of the reason Honda sales were down in December
was because they sold out of '05s earlier than in '04.


>
>All data is from:
>http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060105/..._ge/auto_sales
>
>Honda management seems to be loosing it's way in recent years on certain
>quality control issues and on styling. An insular culture and
>corporate arrogance are what brought GM down in the long haul. Honda
>had better watch out for the same problem.
>
>John

On 5 Jan 2006 15:00:44 GMT, Jim Yanik <jyanik@abuse.gov> wrote:

>Make a new CRX and a new Prelude,at reasonable prices,with reasonable
>horsepower.
>Also,Mazda makes their very popular Miata,and Honda's S2000 is far higher
>in price.
>
>Honda needs to look at what the "tuners" are doing with older Hondas and
>other makes of autos;that's what the younger crowd wants to buy.
>
>Instead,their products keep getting bigger and bigger,heavier,more and more
>"same as everybody else".

What I would like is a station wagon the size of a Volvo 240 with
performance suspension and drive train.