Honda Motor Co. is pleased to announce its growing sales…Earlier, the Japanese automaker’s American unit reported that its sales increased by 3% or more next year even as the overall market for new vehicles slumps in line with a slowing economy and increased consumer caution, a senior executive said on Thursday.
John Mendel, executive vice president in charge of Honda's American operations, said he expected industry-wide sales to slip to between 15.5 million and 16 million vehicles in the U.S. next year. The event would etch a dive from an industry total near 16.1 million vehicles this year, the lowest tally since 1998.
"It's going to continue to slow," Mendel told Reuters. "I just don't know that we're going to get the big whack that doomsayers would predict."
Analysts and exes in the industry are troubled in recent weeks about the risk that a housing downturn combined with a spike in mortgage defaults could undermine U.S. vehicle sales in 2008.
But Mendel said he expected both the vehicle market and the broader U.S. economy would both start to improve in the second half of next year, "short of some cataclysmic shock that no one has predicted." The automaker eyes sales to increase by 3% to 4.
"I think next year is probably on target for that," he added. “Honda could even benefit if American consumers turn more cautious because its vehicle line-up leads in overall fuel economy and in maintaining resale values, key considerations for shoppers who are looking to economize. It seems to me that if you look back at our history we've tended to prosper more than the rest when times were tough."
"Honda is an interesting place. I have yet to sit in on a business planning session where market share comes up," said Mendel, who joined Honda in 2004 from Mazda Motor Corp. "Market share is an outcome for us. It's not something we drive for."
Honda's sales growth this year has come from gains in its mainstay sedans, the redesigned Accord and the smaller Civic, combined with momentum that has made its CR-V the best-selling SUV in the U.S. market, according to Guardian Unlimited.
Honda’s weak link, by far, is its Acura luxury brand, where U.S. sales have plummeted more than 10% through November.
Mendel said upcoming Acura product launches, including a revamped TL sedan, would show Honda's commitment to making Acura fully competitive with the best luxury offerings. The automaker’s upcoming offering is expected to haul sales as efficient as performance pulleys.
"Starting next fall, you'll start to see a new direction and a new course in terms of Acura," Mendel concluded. "This year has been kind of a transition year. We've addressed both of those in this minor model change, but it won't be until the full model change where you see where we're going with the brand. That decision had cost the brand some ‘cachet’ and could be reviewed in the future. We always evaluating, especially with Acura, where the brand is going.”