Kamis, 27 Mei 2010

Delayed Civic Begs the Question: Has Honda lost the plot? [w/poll]


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Honda Civic: A History Pictures – click above high-res image gallery

Honda Vice President John Mendel recently admitted to AutoWeek that the next-generation Civic will delayed the Fall 2010 sometime 2011. Mendel said the interview that the Civic was delayed because tightening emissions standards he also noted that changing market conditions were partly blame. AW also notes that the Civic’s design was changed along the way, as Honda’s second biggest selling model was originally scheduled be larger 2011. Happens all the time, right? Well, not Honda it doesn’t.

Michelle Krebs over at Edmunds Auto Observer has taken deep-dive look at the broader implications the Civic redesign, and came up with some very interesting points. For starters, Krebs speculates that the next Civic was delayed in part because it wasn′t competitive compared to the new, vastly improved competition companies like Hyundai, General Motors and Ford. While some analysts feel that the Honda redesign shows that the Japanese automaker willing swallow some humble pie and get things right, Krebs counters that going back the drawing board shows that Honda has lost its touch with the car-buying public. Further support her theory centers around the lackluster greeting the Insight by both consumers pundits, Acura’s polarizing styling language the love/hate Accord Crosstour its embarassing social media launch efforts. Analyst John Wolkonowicz of Global Insight appears to agree Krebs, saying that Honda living off of its reputation from 1980s and 1990s.

Where do we stand the Honda Civic design pushback? We’re thinking that as long as the Civic continues sell big numbers with relatively small incentives, Honda smart head back the drawing board, especially as it still selling strongly five years into its lifecycle. However, we’ve been worried that Honda has been losing its engineering-led focus while now, so we’ll looking the next-gen Civic some level redemption.

Be sure take our poll check out our high-res gallery of Honda Civic history before heading over Auto Observer some very interesting analysis.

View Poll

[Source: Auto Observer]

Delayed Civic Begs the Question: Has Honda lost the plot? [w/poll] originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 26 May 2010 20:29:00 EST. Please see our terms use feeds.

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