Honda says high CR-V sales prove UK buyers care to drive green
Honda says that SUV buyers in Britain are making "greener" choices with their new vehicle purchases. Honda's case in point: sales of the CR-V, which is selling "better than ever, as they offer a cleaner, smaller alternative to the traditional 4x4 stereotype" according to a press release out today. You want numbers? Honda says that while overall the 4x4 sector dropped by four percent in the first half of 2007, CR-V sales went the other way and increased 28 percent (11,665 cars by the end of June 2007 vs. 9,086 during the same period in 2006).
Honda is attributing the upped sales numbers to their "Not all 4x4s are the same" advertising campaign. This advertising series makes the point that the CR-V is cleaner and smaller than a lot of other SUVs. The campaign was started in response to anti-4x4 activists who did actions like this one.
Vicky Mason, Honda UK's customer dialogue manager, said that customer response to this campaign "has been incredible. More people have reacted to this campaign than any other – even more than competitions to win a car! Our customers were pleased to see us getting involved with the debate."
[Source: Honda]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Don 2:58PM (7/25/2007)
Oh, give me a friggin' break.
Does the CR-V NOT have a combustion engine?
And what exactly is green about the Ridgeline?
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RockStoneSteel 11:44PM (7/26/2007)
Honda seriously learned the wrong lesson here. The CRV sales success has nothing to do with their marketing campaign. It only shows the unwillingness of consumers to buy those ugly shoebox designs that Honda produced in the past. The new CRV is very attractive and would probably sell well even if it weren't so "green". There is definitely a market for this size of 4 passenger SUV and Honda made the correct decision to not grow the size or wedge in a worthless third row seat. Toyota screwed up by morphing the RAV4 into a station wagon and overlapping it's ridiculously numerous other SUV and wagon offerings.
Now if Honda would just bump up the horsepower finally, they might sell me one of these new CRVs.
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