Were the 90s a "decade of bad decisions" for Honda?
Here's a short, interesting opinion piece by Matt Timion, owner and operator of GasSavers.org. He first acknowledges that since Honda's entry into the U.S. automotive market in 1971, the automaker has been "more concerned with fuel economy and emissions than any other manufacturer." As partial evidence, he points to Honda's continual offering of at least one super mileage vehicle starting with their CVCC technology moving on to the CRX HF, the Civic VX and the Insight.Matt's argument gets interesting when he attributes an attitude shift at Honda towards bigger profits with company founder Soichiro Honda's death in 1991. He says that at the time "an observable change in Honda's business model and priorities surfaced."
I do think that there's some truth to what Matt's saying as the '90s brought Honda's foray into SUVs and minivans, however, I wouldn't call it "a decade of bad decisions" like Matt. In Popular Science's interview, Honda's CEO Takeo Fukui stresses that as a global company they need to cater to the desires of the consumer. He says, "Americans love big cars, and they will want them whenever possible. Honda will, of course, give them what they want, but our cars will always be the most fuel-efficient in their respective classes." The '90s for Honda were really about expanding their model line-up beyond the Civic, Accord and Prelude as well as moving the Acura brand past the Integra and Legend. This lead the company to abandon its capital-draining Formula 1 presence starting in 1993 and continuing through the 1999 season (only supplying engines through Mugen in the interim). And don't forget the NSX was Soichiro Honda's last great project.
Soichiro Honda was a brilliant man who believed in extracting the most he could possibly derive from any power plant, and this means efficiency as well as performance. The substance of this response is not to take anything away from Honda's spectacular track record in low emissions and high mileage, but simply to underline the fact that we should not confuse causes and effects as we struggle in finding widely accepted incentives for reducing emissions and developing alternative fuels for the future.
In any case, Matt, we think you're doing some great work with your website and wish you the best.
[Source: American Chronicle]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Matt Timion 4:26PM (10/10/2006)
First of all, I feel honored to be mentioned here. :)
Secondly, I really enjoyed this article. My short opinion piece left a lot to be desired, which you covered. Obviously the consumer controls the market, and in order for Honda to remain profitable they had no choice but to give them what they want.
Honda did, however, stop producing a small, affordable, fuel efficient car after the Civic VX. The Civic HX was okay, but it was still big. The Insight was small and fuel efficient, but in no way affordable. 12 years after the Civic VX, Honda is now giving America the Honda Fit.
It looks like Honda is back on track.
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Jason Noh 11:20PM (10/10/2006)
I have to confess that I have a little guilt feeling that I drive a Honda Pilot and love it!
I also allow myself an excuse because it's a Honda. The greeanest of it's class.
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Ryan 3:52PM (10/11/2006)
Now if honda can make the Fit get 50+ mpg like my old civic got I will be happy.
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Meek 8:46AM (10/11/2006)
I disagree with Matt. His article states that "the economical cars by which Honda was known vanished." Honda did add larger vehicles, but in no way did the economical cars vanish, even if you only look at North America. Keep in mind that the fit, and many other micro cars kept selling the world over. The Civic and the Accord remained the big sellers for Honda.
Also, he points out that Toyota led the way with a hybrid, which is not correct. The Insight hit the market before the Prius. Also, the Insight beat the Prius in the US Mileage ratings, but did not outsell it. Honda was first to put the Hybrid powertrain into a mass production vehicle, the Civic.
Also, these hybrid, natural gas, and hydrogen powertrains didn't pop up overnight, it takes time to R&D something that innovative. Perhaps a decade (Like the 90s?)
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MikeW 11:07AM (10/11/2006)
Honda makes hybrid lite cars. No real hybrids yet.
Honda did not offer the Civic HX with ABS, close but no cigar. Not purchaseable without ABS. The 2001 Civic HX got 35/40, better than today's 30/40 of the Civic DX, attributed to the 3 stage VTEC-asymmetric, lock, high lift, the wider ratio spread of the CVT (wider than the 5.1:1 of the current civic 5 speed auto) light weight and good aerodynamics.
The current Civic automatic has gearing that is too tall. Top gear is ~30mph/1000 rpm. The reduced power of the Civic GX is unable to utilize 5th gear. The current gasoline engine has to run extensively in continous torque converter clutch slip mode while in 5th gear.
The engine has inverse half VTEC. VTEC only works on one intake valve. All of honda's other single cam VTEC engines work on both intake valves, be it the VTEC-E of the 1998 Accord & 1999 TL, or the TL-type S. VTEC only 'kicks in' at low speed & part load. 1000-3500 and less than 2/3rds load. The only performance part of the R18A1 is the dual length intake manifold, and that shortens the path at for high revs 5200-6700rpm.
The Fit is a start, but the engine is only good for the 1.5 liter class, and everyone else uses a average 1.6 liter engines, so the fit is only bringing a knife to a knife fight. The MiniCooper has a damn good 1.6 liter engine 118hp@6000 & 118ft-lbs@4250, and the engine makes 103ft-lbs @ 2000 rpm, got to love ValveTronic.
Honda foolishly pursued the Accord hybrid, when they would have been better off putting cylinder shutoff on all their V6 engines.
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Matt Timion 12:54PM (10/11/2006)
Hi Meek.
It's important to remember that while Honda never lost the Civic, that the Civic kept getting bigger and bigger. Even it's "gas friendly" version (the Civic HX) was not really that fuel efficient.
Also, the Insight came to the US market before the Prius, but everywhere else in the world the Prius was first.
While Honda usually leads the class in fuel economy for many of the vehicles, it is very evident that the focus switched from smaller cars to giant cars.
Also, the Fit really isn't a solution to this problem. It's small, but that's about it. It also was not released in the 90s, which is what this article is about. Sadly the Honda Fit (Jazz) was offered in a 1.3L engine outside of the US. No such option exists for the US model.
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pwr 11:13PM (10/11/2006)
I've owned about 25 Hondas, some of them automobiles, from 1972 to present. Having read Mr. Timion's article, I can't help but feel that his perspective on Honda is a bit narrow. After all, if a consumer is interested in a 100+ mpg vehicle, Honda has been making them for over 40 years.
Honda's engineering heritage--jewellike refinement, high volumetric efficiency, stunning reliability--was established long before it went into large-scale automobile manufacturing. I can't see where it's lost any of that, at any point in its history.
If Mr. Timion is looking for a reason for the apparent (and logical, I might add) change to their business model, he should look to the effects of Honda's initiating North American manufacturing operations, in the late 1970s for motorcycles and the early 1980s for automobiles. North American Honda was able to tune in much more closely to American buyers' tastes and penetrate the market in a serious way, rather than remain a niche marketer to an eccentric elite. Honda, through its regional subsidiaries, is able to provide the wide variety of automobiles that disparate markets demand. Every truly global automaker does the same. One can hardly blame Honda for catering to its customers' tastes.
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Jimmy 12:05AM (10/12/2006)
#4 "Honda makes hybrid lite cars. No real hybrids yet"
Honda uses a simple, elegant and effective hybrid system. The beauty of a hybrid is when the two propulsion systems are working together and Honda's IMA does that very well.
If you look at fueleconomy.gov Driver's Fuel Economy Estimates (aka real world) the Civic Hybrid are Prius are within 1 mpg.
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victor casado 6:20PM (2/06/2007)
good bless soichiro and honda, i will by their products for ever they stay on the market....
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