By Jamie Barrie T he only thing that is more contested in America than the recent election is the SUV segment of the U.S. auto market which the Honda Motor Co. helped popularize in the U.S. in the late 90’s, and help grow into the largest automotive segment in the American market. Being the leader in the industry means that Honda must step up its game to stay ahead of those that are looking to take over top spot, which in today’s market is easier said than done. Honda is not going to give up top spot without a fight and in December is introducing a larger, redesigned CR-V compact sport utility vehicle with a sportier look and expanded list of safety features. Honda’s, CR-V has been America’s most popular SUV for eight of the past nine years, in saying that Toyota, Ford, GM along with Korean automakers are challenging its dominance as these competitors look to expand their market share of the compact SUVs segment to offset the decline in sales of midsize family sedans. Honda’s U.S. sales of the CR-V this year through Septem- ber totaled 263,493, just 3,113 ahead of Toyota Motor Corp.’s RAV4. Toyota’s RAV4 (a contraction of Recre- ational Active Vehicle with 4-wheel drive) single-hand- edly created the compact sports utility vehicle segment, bridging what was at the time a gaping chasm between traditional off-roaders and regular passenger vehicles. The RAV4 has come a long way since its launch in May
of 1994 and Toyota says the RAV4 will soon surpass the Camry sedan as its top seller in America.
Not to be out done by Honda and Toyota, Ford is intro- ducing a redesigned Escape, and Nissan Motor Co. has added a third assembly site, in Kyushu, Japan, for its Rogue SUV. Plus GM is all in on this hand as they have upped production to three factories from one for its rede- signed Equinox and GMC Terrain. Keeping in line with Toyota’s RAV4, Honda Senior Vice President Jeff Conrad said recently, “It’s possible that next year, the CR-V could be our No. 1 selling vehicle,” So it should be no surprise that Honda also will soon expand CR-V output, building it in Indiana as well as in Ohio and Ontario, Canada. John Mendel, the head of Honda’s sales operations in the U.S., predicted a fast start for the new CR-V since he expects industrywide U.S. sales to set a record this year and hit another high in 2017 as the redesigned fifth-gen- eration CR-V will offer 2 inches of additional legroom for back-seat passengers, and have rear seats that fold flat for bigger, more flexible cargo space, plus Honda also will expand its Sensing safety package to more trim levels not just the Touring models. Looks like Honda is looking to stay on top of the SUV segment but the mountain top or in this case parking lot is getting a little more crowded.
36
SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS • NOVEMBER 2016
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker