jli

Im not saying these two companies are similar. What I meant was Hyundai is now pushing out cars such as Genesis coupe and velostor turbo to attract young enthusiastic buyers, while Honda is losing them by offering nothing more than a Civic Si.

I, myself own a 2007 Accord and it is a very solid nice car. But as for the current Honda line-up, theres nothing really excites me. I often caught myself looking at cars from Ford, Chevy, Dodge and Hyundai that I never thought I would be doing before.

Like many others said in this thread, Honda needs to realize that Accord and Civic won't be keeping the customers for long as other manufacturers are pushing out more than just your average family commuting cars...

mmarshall

Actually, IMO Honda is correct on this one. I don't see a NEED for Honda to go after the young, caps-on-backwards crowd. In fact, back when that crowd was running around in pastel-colored (aftermarket paint) and bolt-on-spoiler CRXs, Civic hatchbacks, Preludes, and two-door Accords, they weren't even buying NEW Hondas......prefering to customize/repaint older ones instead. So why spend time and money chasing a crowd that is not going to buy your products...or at least not buy them new? Honda has traditionally sold their products based on quality, refinement (except for road noise), reliability, and Swiss-Watch levels of precision assembly....those features can appeal to people of ANY age. Yes, they goof once in a while (like with the over-economized, El-Cheapo 2012 Civic), but they clearly recogniozed the error, and, in just one year, the 2013 Civic was MUCH better done.

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

If your view is true, Honda will morph into the next Buick, Olds tradititon of calm, simple, soft cars until their customer base dies off that the cycle of life continues and the company may be reborn or not at all.. that or focus all efforts on Mowers and Asimo's

pvmike1

I don't think that was the case for cars like the CRX, Civic hatch, or Prelude. These cars, along with Integras, were often first cars for young drivers and purchased new. Even if the parents purchased the car, I'm sure the child had a hand in choosing it and hence were a part of Honda's target market.

CK6Speed

iTrader: (1)

This sounds closer to the truth. It could be dependent on the region of the country one is from, but on the west side and in my state young kids would be buying new Preludes, Civics, Accord Hatches and Coupe, CRX, and practically modding them right off the showroom floor. I know the Acura and Honda dealerships here used to sell already fixed on cars with DC headers, rims, intakes, dropped suspension, and kids could come in and factor all that into their monthly payments and drive off the lot with a modified car.

mmarshall, I think you don't realize how much money these young kids used to put into their Honda's back in the day. Honda's at the time were the cars to get and modify. Again, you had dealerships selling aftermarket parts right on the showrooms. Honda is no longer the have to have car to modify anymore so you don't that kind if stuff in dealerships anymore except for maybe Scion.

jli

I believe one of the reasons why the honda fans keep modifying the old school crx, civic hatch and preludes because Honda stopped making such cars. And look back when Honda first released the S2000 after the civic and integra craze died out, people started buying them and how many do you see on the road today?
(Same goes to Toyota, they used to a similar lineup as Honda before releasing the FRS. They kept saying there is no market for compact sport and look at how popular the FRS and BRZ are today?)

It's undeniable that Honda makes good quality cars because like I have mentioned in my last post, I currently still own a 07 accord and it is very nice.
My question to you is, why is Honda not able to make some fun sporty cars while maintaining the same level of quality, refinement and assembling precision? They need those cars to win back the enthusiastic buyers like Toyota did with the FT86.