Exclusive Interview with Gary Flint, Ridgeline Chief Engineer

Ridgeline Owners Club had the privilege of asking a few questions of Gary Flint recently. Gary is the LPL (Large Project Leader) aka Chief Engineer for the Honda Ridgeline. In other words, he's the guy with the answers and the “scoop” about this exciting truck from Honda that we all love so much.

Gary, thanks so much for your time and for your willingness to visit with us a bit. We have a lot of enthusiastic owners and potential buyers as members on our site and several of our questions today come from them. Let's dive right in, shall we...

ROC: First, how are things going with sales and the market response to the Ridgeline, in your opinion?

GF: In regards to your question about market reception; During the Ridgeline introduction at the Detroit Auto show, we succeeded in capturing the attention of the automotive world. This was the best attended unveiling at the Honda display in Detroit so far. We were successful at maintaining the confidentiality regarding the most innovative aspects of this truck which surprised even myself that we kept this secret. The Ridgeline in-fact won Autoweek’s coveted “Most Significant New Vehicle Award” at this years Detroit Auto Show. It has been said that this is the most significant development in the pick-up truck segment in over 50 years. Since the Detroit Auto Show, the praise and recognition have not stopped. As you know it was chosen by a major consumer magazine as the “best pick” in the compact truck segment. Car and Driver also rated it number one in their most recent comparison of “do-it-all” compact trucks. This has been preceded by countless praises from almost every source of automotive journalist in both the US and Canada. Finally, it is the only 4 door truck ever tested by NHTSA to receive a triple crown by achieving a 5 star crash rating in both the front and side impact tests as well as a 4 star roll-over rating with no wheel tip-up. This truck is not only revolutionary – it is also the safest truck on the market to transport your family.

In terms of buyers of the Ridgeline, we are honestly surprised at the number of conquest sales that we have pulled from the full size truck segment. So far through August of 2005, we have sold 22,474 units in the US (and an additional 2,066 units in Canada through August). Sales continue to grow each month including the latest August monthly sales figures which finished at 4,308 units which is our strongest sales month so far. We need to keep in mind the Ridgeline was launched in an extremely conservative market segment in which most of the competitors simultaneously launched new vehicles. This is also a completely new segment for Honda which is perhaps our biggest hurdle: awareness of the product. Additionally, being a new market category, we are experiencing some educational issues among the sales force. We continue to monitor the success of our advertising campaign to ensure awareness of the product in the marketplace. Also, I recently finished filming an instructional video to be used as a sales training piece at the dealership level.

One of the biggest misconceptions is regarding pricing: There are still individuals comparing the Ridgeline to stripped-down compact trucks which are a completely separate segment of the market – both from a use and a demographic viewpoint. If you compare the Ridgeline to a comparably equipped 4 door 4wd compact truck, the Ridgeline is priced approximately $1200-1500 less. This coupled with the fact the Ridgeline offers so many unique features that are not available on other trucks; one would conclude there really isn’t much that directly competes or compares with it. We are encouraged and optimistic the latest sales trend will continue as recognition increases and awareness becomes less of an issue.

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