According to an article on The Drive, Honda sales are down a colossal 47% for July 2022 compared to June 2022. AND down 40% this year overall. Honda is sighting supply chain issues of course. But do you think there’s more to it than that?
Because anybody over 30 has been around long enough to know that Honda lost their magic two decades ago now. Their je ne sais quoi if you will. But look around – so have MOST car manufacturers. It’s not like Honda’s the only one out here making shapeless blobs with wack transmissions. But has Honda overall become so watered-down, that nobody’s really searching them out anymore?
Or is it a pricing issue? Inflation is an absolute dumpster fire right now. Last month, the average price of new vehicles passed $48,000. And that’s $1,000 HIGHER than it was the month before that! New vehicle prices are practically going up by the week. So could that mean Honda hit their ceiling? I mean – Honda makes a great product. But who wants to spend nearly 50k on a Ridgeline? Honda’s always been synonymous with sensibility. But does sensibly drown-out of the equation… when it’s no longer sensible to buy ANY new car at these current prices? What I mean is: The types of people who buy Hondas/Acuras… are smart enough to not be buying cars at all right now.
Or maybe, Honda/Acura’s just gotten too comfortable & passive? A lot of the fight & fire that was in Honda 3 decades ago to prove themselves… is in Hyundai/Kia/Genesis now. And let’s at least consider the possibility that Honda’s been phoning-it-in for too long. Going 8/10s. Have they finally lost the generational fanbase loyalty?
But hey – even IF that’s the case… it presents a silver lining in this moment. Because if sales are in the toilet… it’s obvious that boring & forgettable is not working. So stop being boring! A lot of the major car manufacturers have totally lost touch with their customers in the past year. It’s getting borderline hostile with things like mandatory ONSTAR subscriptions from GM. Monthly subscription charges to use the seat heaters in your BMW. And mandatory EV trade-in from Ford. And that gives Honda a real opportunity to be the good guy, get back in the game, & reinvigorate the brand! Give the customers what they want; no strings attached! I intentionally used photos in this article that sort of contradict some of my points… to show that they’re really not that far off. There is still potency in the Honda/Acura brands. It’s not not being fully unleashed.
*Looks at the new Integra* Hell that one’s gonna take a miracle, but nothing’s impossible!
Hondas sales are down because they don’t make cool shit anymore, point blank. I’ve owned about 13 loved them each one. Easy fun to modify, at some point you have to realize they just quit. I could go through the line up but its long. Why they continue to lean towards Starbucks I couldn’t say. Btw I get inflation and all but 30k for a used 70k mile civic is bullshit! So in ending my rant I just purchased a VW GTI with 45k for way less. However the Del Sol will not be sold.