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Dec 23, 2024
8:08:13am
Bert609 All-American
I feel the same way about Honda. Loved our '84 Accord, it went 360k+ miles and we gave it away running, and by the end
Now they have absolutely nothing that interest me, not even in their halo line up.

The I-VTM4 AWD system that they are marketing heavily to get into the "adventure space" on the Ridgeline and new Passport is a gimmic, light duty, and won't be given a glance by the majority of the target audience.

Surrendering the "overlanding" market to Jeep and Toyota, that leaves the "light duty" off road space, that has been traditionally dominated by Subaru (or has been, South Korea seems to be up and coming with the Telluride/Palisade/Sportage). Passport is late to the party, will it carve market share? That remains to be seen. They are advertising it heavily as an adventure vehicle. It looks great. The drivetrain is wrong, the guys who actually strap stuff to their roof racks want low range transfer cases.

As for cars, they don't have a halo car, I guess Acura has the NSX (are they still making it?) Everything is FWD and boring, and arguably has a better competitor (Toyota or Hyundai/Kia) within its competing class.

At least Toyota paid to rebadge the BMW Z4 into the Supra and also co-developed the GR86 with Subaru for the BRZ. There is the old marketing adage: People go to the dealership to see the Supra and go home in a Corolla. What is bringing people to Honda dealerships to dream over?

The Civic? Again you are living off of Fast and the Furious reputation, not Fast and the Furious 9, but the original. Back when they had the S2000 on the dealer lots to get people to come and go home in Accords.

Ridgeline is ok as a light-duty truck, but the Maverick is really stiff competition.

That leaves the Odyssey as Honda's "Halo" car.
Bert609
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Bert609
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Dec 23, 2024
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