what's happening to the honda accord in the US?

**sikuya** · February 17th, 2005 01:18 AM

it wasn't supposed to be this way: the honda accord has a higher stockpile of units in dealers' lots than the industry average these days. used to the accord was at the heels of the toyota camry in their annual tradition to become america's bestselling cars, but not lately.what's going on?

top 10 bestselling cars in the US ,january 2005

toyota camry----29,367
chevrolet malibu-22,463
chevrolet impala-20,121
honda accord---20,074
toyota corolla---18,224
nissan altima----17,095
honda civic-----15,874
ford taurus------14,533
ford focus------12,429
dodge neon-----11,258

1.toyota camry

2.chevrolet malibu

**Macky** · February 17th, 2005 03:26 AM

Hindi kasi bumibili ng Accord ang mga rental car companies. Dapat isinama mo din sa mga numbers mo kung ilan ang napunta sa rental at ilan ang talagang naibenta sa consumers (decieving kasi). From what I read somewhere, 75% ng sales ng mga domestic cars ay sa rentals napupunta. Mazda (yung dating 323) at Toyota (Camry at Corolla) lang yata ang Japanese cars na pinagbibilhan nitong mga car rental companies sa Amerika. Maybe because may ties sila sa Ford at GM (Mazda is under the umbrella of Ford while Toyota shares the Prizm/Corolla and Vibe/Matrix with GM) respectively. Baka in the future kukuha na din sa Honda ang mga rental cars since may mga deals na ang Honda at GM (specifically Saturn).

Honda is not as big as Toyota..... not even as big as Nissan. Kung titingnan nyo, lahat ng naipo-produce na kotse ng planta nila, majority naibebenta nila (others such as the Odyssey, MDX, Pilot, at yung bago nilang pickup mga naka-back-order pa!!! - enough reason for Honda dealers to gough up their already inflated prices). Being conservative is the main reason why they have kept afloat all these years kahit na wala silang malalaking truck at malalaking displacement engines which sells like hotcakes in North America (and North America has the biggest car market shares - would you believe China now has the second largest car market overtaking Europe along the way

). Bihira din silang maglabas ng mga bagong models since billions of dollars ang halaga ng testing nun. Their sales target are realistic kasi pag nag-mintis sila, malaking chance na tumiklop sila dahil nga sa maliit lang sila.

**sikuya** · February 17th, 2005 03:43 AM

that's a very important point you made, but the accord has always fought off rental and fleet sales of taurus,malibu,pontiac and dodge cars for years now becoming america's no.2 car yearly. but 20,000 units sold in 1 month is a very low figure for honda's flagship car since it and the camry always sell >28,000 tops monthly.
i have no data for rental car sales right now, but i know camry/corolla rentals are just sprinkles compared to the Big 3 sedans. incidentally, i was following this dark blue accord last week and i was surprised to see the "e" logo on its trunklid.

**Macky** · February 17th, 2005 03:57 AM

Originally Posted by sikuya

that's a very important point you made, but the accord has always fought off rental and fleet sales of taurus,malibu,pontiac and dodge cars for years now becoming america's no.2 car yearly. but 20,000 units sold in 1 month is a very low figure for honda's flagship car since it and the camry always sell >28,000 tops monthly.
i have no data for rental car sales right now, but i know camry/corolla rentals are just sprinkles compared to the Big 3 sedans. incidentally, i was following this dark blue accord last week and i was surprised to see the "e" logo on its trunklid.

I've worked for Enterprise Rent-A-Car 5 years ago. May benefit sila na 20% discount sa mga used car fleets nila. I would have stayed there kung may Toyota or Honda cars sila and I was 100% sure at that time na wala. Di ko na lang alam ngayon kung meron na nga.

Since lagi ngang #2 ang Accord, tama ngang sabihin na mahina ang benta nila ngayon.

**cyberdoc95** · February 17th, 2005 07:52 AM

I think its time na din na American brands start to fight back on the sedan category. The Ford Taurus was the best-selling car before Toyota Camry and Honda Accord overtook on year 2000 and got the title. Understandably for the reason that Taurus was just getting plain-looking and was simply blah. Although Toyota gets my vote for the best in reliability but it is good to know that American Brands have awaken and at least doing something to regain their lost glory.

P.S.
I'm still searching for any articles or literature about the claim of 75% of locally-produced cars go to rentals. Just quite disturbing!

**pink_cadillac** · February 17th, 2005 09:08 AM

The Camry's value proposition is better overall compared to the Accord.

It is bigger (more appealing to Americans) and has a friendlier ride.

The Accord, when compared to the Camry is more youthful and its handling is quite sporty.

**mazdamazda** · February 17th, 2005 09:12 AM

from the looks of it, the domestics are fighting back...

**empy** · February 17th, 2005 01:33 PM

i hope i don't offend current-gen accord owners but...

[size=1]it's ugly[/size]

**sikuya** · February 17th, 2005 04:47 PM

Originally Posted by cyberdoc95

[COLOR=Blue]I think its time na din na American brands start to fight back on the sedan category. The Ford Taurus was the best-selling car before Toyota Camry and Honda Accord overtook on year 2000 and got the title.

(OT-have you recovered from the Superbowl and World Series euphoria yet?)

Remember the ovoid Ford Taurus that came out in 1996?that's when its sales plummeted and the Camry took over as America's bestselling car and continues to this day (not year 2000)......