American Honda Reports Record February Sales [3.3.8]

[T Mac]

03/03/2008 - TORRANCE, Calif. -

American Honda Motor Co., Inc., posted record February sales results of 115,397 Honda and Acura vehicles, an increase of 0.7 percent over February 2007, the company announced today. American Honda light trucks also posted record monthly results with sales of 52,557, up 1.9 percent. Year-to-date American Honda total vehicle sales of 213,908 were ahead of last year, but down 0.6 percent on a daily-selling-rate basis*.

The Honda Division posted its best February ever with record sales of 102,313 cars and light-trucks; an increase of 1.9 percent over year-ago results. February records for individual models included Fit sales of 4,326, up 61.8 percent; CR-V sales of 15,694, up 11.4 percent; and Pilot sales of 12,881, up 19.3 percent. The division also posted record February light-truck sales of 46,303 trucks, up 3.0 percent over last year.

"Customers wanting to upsize their fuel efficiency without downsizing vehicle utility chose Fit, Pilot and CR-V in record numbers this month," said Dick Colliver, executive vice president of American Honda. "With an all-new Pilot on the horizon for June, it's great to see continued strong demand for the current model."

The Acura Division posted total vehicle sales of 13,084 units, down 8.0 percent. The MDX luxury SUV was Acura's best-selling model, with strong February sales of 4,545 and year-to-date sales of 8,527.

*The daily selling rate is calculated with 50 days year-to-date 2008, versus 49 for 2007. February 2008 included 25 selling days, versus 24 for 2007.

For more information and downloadable high-resolution images of Honda and Acura vehicles, please visit www.hondanews.com or www.acuranews.com. Consumer information is available at www.honda.com and www.acura.com.

[Hound]

Considering t US economic growth may be in for a slow period, thats a good sign for Honda In related news:

Autoblog reports Honda is shifting Ridgeline production from Alliston Ontario to Alabama, USA. (if mentioned elsewhere in this forum, my apologies) It will be built in the same newer factory the other V6 truck platforms are produced.

As a Canuck I'm somewhat philosophical considering the rising loonie is at least partly to blame. But I also suspect Honda is looking ahead at the long term sales forecasts and circling the wagons.

On the brighter side: Maybe the Canadian price will drop!

[jimmychoi]

No mention of the Ridge in the truck sales...

[csimo]

Ridgeline sales:

February 2007 - 3,570
February 2008 - 3,532 (net decrease of 5% when adjusted for number of sales days)

YTD 2007 - 7,002
YTD 2008 - 5,779 (net decrease of 19.1% when adjusted for number of sales days)

[Samijo]

I would bet the sales figures are way up in Canada year over year because of the strength of the dollar. In my City I can't believe the increase in the number of Ridgelines driving the streets.

[csimo]

Originally Posted by Samijo

I would bet the sales figures are way up in Canada year over year because of the strength of the dollar. In my City I can't believe the increase in the number of Ridgelines driving the streets.

Honda Canada Ridgeline sales info:

"Honda Ridgeline sets February sales record of 462 units, up 109% from February 2007, and up 48% over the previous February sales record of 313 units in 2006"

[UOVB]

Originally Posted by Samijo

I would bet the sales figures are way up in Canada year over year because of the strength of the dollar. In my City I can't believe the increase in the number of Ridgelines driving the streets.

I can't see it, at least not directly. I think a lot of Cannucks held off buying and waited for the foreign exchange pressures to push incentives up and pricing down. They held off, and held off, and perhaps they may start buying now, but if anything I would think the dollar would push up used car purchases.

[UOVB]

Originally Posted by Hound

Considering t US economic growth may be in for a slow period, thats a good sign for Honda In related news:

Autoblog reports Honda is shifting Ridgeline production from Alliston Ontario to Alabama, USA. (if mentioned elsewhere in this forum, my apologies) It will be built in the same newer factory the other V6 truck platforms are produced.

As a Canuck I'm somewhat philosophical considering the rising loonie is at least partly to blame. But I also suspect Honda is looking ahead at the long term sales forecasts and circling the wagons.

On the brighter side: Maybe the Canadian price will drop!

Somewhere else in the posts they mentioned moving the Element production to Alliston. The Element is based off of the Civic platform and if it continues to do so, I would think the this is a better fit for the Alliston plant. Plus if I was pushing a truck in the US, I would want it manufactured there for marketing purposes.

[Samijo]

Originally Posted by UOVB

I can't see it, at least not directly. I think a lot of Cannucks held off buying and waited for the foreign exchange pressures to push incentives up and pricing down. They held off, and held off, and perhaps they may start buying now, but if anything I would think the dollar would push up used car purchases.

csimo's info backs up my observation. Thanks for that info csimo

[UOVB]

Originally Posted by Samijo

csimo's info backs up my observation. Thanks for that info csimo

I still can’t see that sales figures are up year over year because of the dollar. The dealers did pile on incentives at year end because of the narrowing of the exchange difference, which would pushed down purchase prices. I’d say that the sales taxes and the higher Canadian prices would push Canucks to buy cross border. Anecdotally there are lot of posts here about that.
As the exchange goes to parity, the impact of sales tax is that much more expensive. If we pay list for a Ridgeline at $1.25 CAD buys $1.00 USD (80 cents), then the GST is 13 percent premium. If the exchange rate is a dollar to a dollar, then the GST premium is 41 percent since a Canadian Ridgeline should be a $28,000 for a base model.
As US sales of the vehicle basically plunged Canadian sales picked up. In a poker game if my cards read “Honda Canada pushes financing and pricing incentives at Canadian Consumers to increase volumes at expense of juicy Canadian margins to offset some of the decline in the higher volumn US market” then I’d put my chips all in. What other market does the vehicle sell in that Honda can use as an outlet to off load their overhead?