Honda Australia to 'up the run rate' after slow start to 2012

By Tim Beissmann
June 29th, 2012

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Honda Australia remains confident it can sell 40,000 vehicles in 2012 despite delivering little more than 12,000 in the first five months of the year.

Honda Australia director Stephen Collins told CarAdvice the company was on track to meet its bold sales target despite a slow start to the year that has been hampered by supply from flood-ravaged Thailand.

“The second half needs to be a lot stronger than the first half, but yeah, we are [on track],” Collins said.

“Our expectations in the first half were pretty modest just because we didn’t have any stock, so really from here on in particularly with [Civic] hatch and CR-V coming later we’re pretty confident we’ll hit 40,000. But we need to up the running rate, that’s for sure.”

Honda Australia faced supply shortages of its Thai-sourced Accord, City, Civic sedan, CR-V and Jazz vehicles early this year, and was forced to import the Jazz Vibe and Civic from Japan for a few months to keep up with customer demand.

Collins said the brand was on track to deliver approximately 4500 vehicles in June, up almost 50 per cent over May, and acknowledged it would need to continue to hit 4000 sales per month for the rest of the year to reach its goal.

“The maths of it is about a 30 per cent increase on the first half, but with supply and new product and all those things lining up I’m confident we can do it,” he said.

Collins expects the new Civic to play a significant role in the brand’s second-half resurgence.

“We’re basically averaging 1000 [Civic] sedans [per month] as we set out to do, and we’re hoping most of the hatch volume will be incremental to that. By the end of the year we want to be at 2000 Civics [per month] and really have Civic as one of the dominant players in that small-car segment.”

With the new fourth-generation Honda CR-V not due in showrooms until November, it is unlikely to have a meaningful impact on sales before 2013. The new Honda Accord large sedan will join it in 2013.

Collins says the local division has its sights firmly set on continuing to increase volume in the coming years.

“We’re looking to grow to 50,000, if not 50,000-plus next year as a part of our three-year plan to get back to 60,000 [in 2014], which is where we were in 2007,” he said.

“It’s a rebuilding exercise and it’s based on new product and a whole host of things, but we’re pretty confident the market this year is going to be a million or there abouts, so it’s pretty healthy really – especially compared to some of the European markets that are really struggling.”

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John

I’d like to meet Stephen Collins and grip him warmly by the throat, er, hand, and wish him the best of luck.
- kazuo
  
  classic, lol
F1MotoGP

Honda is a big company and they should be upgrading not just the look of the car but those old engines too. All European car companies did it with smaller turbo engines with more power better fuel economy and more Nm at lower revs. What we need like in England is a Civic 1.6 turbo petrol new 1.6 diesel and for SUV a good diesel engine and than you can dream about more sales.
- Mick Dunn
  
  Absolutely agree. What happened to Honda being a leader in powertrains? 10 years ago we had the fantastic 2.4 4 cylinder with i-vtec, lovely 6 speed manual and capable 5 speed auto.
  
  These days we have err… the same. The cars have gotten heavier but besides a few minor tweaks the powertrains have remained the same. The auto is at least one ratio short and has been for several years. The engines do not compete with the current high efficiency DI naturally aspirated engines from competitors, let alone the low blow turbos. And the gorgeous manual is actually being phased out of their more premium offerings!
  
  Come on Honda!
  - Roger_leong
    
    It is not like Honda don’t have DI technology in their hand, in fact quite few of their JDM small cars have it. They seems to keep the good stuffs for the Japanese market (Direct injection, AWD, toyota valvematic, etc) whereas the korean make it available across the globe. Not sure what is their reasoning behind that…
    - F1MotoGP
      
      No wonder Honda is loosing money. If you got DI bring it here. I can buy KIA with DI. What is happening with Honda???
- Yetiman
  
  Honda is doing well in Asian countries where small car is in demand.
Pirate Post Office

Honda may achieve this goal if they continue to drop prices. If the CRV is much cheaper than CX5, Rav4, Sportage, ix35, Xtrail and Forrester it may very well dominate. I really think that Mazda will come off second best out of a Honda price war… I predict CX5 volumes will drop like a stone in 2013.
- F1MotoGP
  
  Dropping prices is not everything. Other car companies dropping prices too and bringing in new engines like DI or turbo. Honda engines must be 10 years old just like Corolla engine and 4 speed auto….you can not sell this car only here. Min is 5 speed
  - Pirate Post Office
    
    You have a valid point, however if a Koren SUV is $5k more than a CRV and the Mazda $10k more…
    The punters will vote with their wallets.
    
    Untill Honda improve their product, a sharp priced mIddling effort like the CRV is the only way for Honda to do volume.
- Jill
  
  The CX-5 is pretty good and is similar to the Tiguan, in that it won’t be easy for the CRV to steal a whole bunch of sales from either vehicle. The CRV will have to be a good car for it to compete with these two.
Edward

I also bought my Honda in 2007. It did seem like good times for Honda back then, but their laziness has got them in a hole they deserve to be in.

My girlfriend has the new Elantra, and her experience seems much better than mine. Her servicing and parts are much cheaper, her car is great value, and it looks great in today’s market. Sitting inside the cheap interior of the Civic sedan made me depressed. I would not pay a little less to spend my time in that dump. Parts and servicing will probably be a rip-off as usual anyway.

I get a good feeling from companies like Hyundai because they are clearly trying hard to win you over. Their product speaks that clearly. Honda dropping their prices is a good move, but their products still show that they only care about doing ‘good enough’.

‘Good enough’ is not good enough Honda.
- Pirate Post Office
  
  The Elantra makes the Civic sedan look like a joke.
  - Yetiman
    
    But Honda has a better resale value.
    - Phunken
      
      But you don’t buy car based on that criteria. That false economy. You buy car to enjoy and to live with the best one not to buy a compromised car that lagged behind its rival by a decade. Consider what the brands used to stand for…
Galaxy

Times are changing fast. Look what Samsung and LG have done (Sony who? Panasonic who?, Sharp who?)
- Yetiman
  
  If I was given a free TV, I would prefer Sony Bravia over Samsung.
  - Sydlocal
    
    Even though most Sonys have a Samsung panel in them anyway, just like the iphone/ipad/ipod! TIC
    - M.
      
      All Sony contain a panel made by either S-LCD (Sony & Samsung joint panel company, 51% owned by Samsung 49% by Sony, although they’re selling their share) and the rest (higher end sets) Contain Sharp Panels. Sharp LCD panels are also found in iPad, and will soon also be in iPhone etc. Foxconn (Apples manufacturer) has recently acquired some 50% of Sharps panel manufacturing output at their Sakai plant in Japan. aka, Japanese products are still very relevant.
  - Shak
    
    Why? Because you’re a brand snob. Samsung make much better TV’s than Sony do today. Just like Honda, Sony got cocky and tried to tell the consumer what they want.
  - Nasal Explorer
    
    @d5f9466bc32f39c7697cff1682c79f8a:disqus ”
    If I was given a free TV, I would prefer Sony Bravia over Samsung.”
    But what if you had to pay for it? What would you choose then? Same applies to cars – real people paying real money and looking for the best value they can get.
    - Yetiman
      
      You are correct. If money was on a tight budget, Samsung is good enough.
      - Phunken
        
        Not really a smart buy if its based on higher price so therefore it must be better logic.
      - Yetiman
        
        Korean make good products but I prefer Japanese brand. This is competition is good for consumers, everyone wins.
  - Phunken
    
    Everything you own electronically would have a Samsung part in it.
- Tell It As It Is
  
  Grundig, Telefunken, Philips can’t compete in the high tech plasma / LCD / LED business.
  
  If cars were like modern TVs or high tech stuff with no fanbois following…. BMW, Audi, others would have gone out of business a long time ago.
Lbrinsmead

An Accord Euro wagon will help sales, as well as a diesel auto CRV.
- hondaareboring
  
  some low down torque for the ageing motor would help more, they’re a boring slow drive around town
Ted

The
Kia Cerato is a better car than the new Civic – the current version made in
Japan was only half fitted with extras, but the current version that are on
there way, maybe a little better. However, the Kia Cerato, and even the
previous i30 is better than the Civic (the new i30 much better). Once upon a
time many years ago, Honda was the boss but not now – move over Honda
- Rocket
  
  Honda are slowly climbing out of a hole they made for themselves and when the new diesel engines arrive for the Civic and CRV their value will be very hard to match. Hyundai and Kia have come along way but the only car I really like is the i40 but it is overpriced compared to an Accord Euro.
- john
  
  Own both Civic and Cerato . The Cerato around town 11 litres per 100
  Civic 7.6 litres per 100.
  - Phunken
    
    How old is the Cerato?
    A friend bought the Cerato Hatch 2011 over the Civic Note: Current Cerato Hatch have the new Theta 2L engine producing 115KW ( 7.5L/100km for the manual).VSHonda Civic 1.8L engine producing 103KW (6.9l/100km) unless going into the more expensive Sport 2L at 114KW (8.3l/100km).
    - john
      
      Cerato is latest hatch 6 speed auto . Theta 2L engine has been out a number of years- old design.Civic is 1.8L does high 5L/100 on open road
      Have owned 3 Civics have all done this mileage.
Shak

I dont know how they’re planning to hit that target when their only new product for most of the year will be the Civic hatch. With the CRV not coming until November, it will probably only contribute 2000-3000 to that sales tally.
SamR

Honda have some good cars but they have lost the ability to charge a premium price. Mazda do far better deals and are selling a boatload more cars.
Honda like Sony are past their glory days , they cannot charge more.
- Mazdafan
  
  Mazdas are fun, hondas are boring
Yetiman

If I can afford it, why not? my first car was a 1990 Hyundai Excel and it was a decent first car.
Gwil6552

Australians won’t pay Japanese prices for cars made in Thailand and England.
This mistake has cost Honda dearly over the last 5 years.
The Thai floods were really just an excuse for low numbers, less and less people were buying them anyway.
Its true that Honda do price gouge on their spare parts……perhaps they should look at this too.
Phunken

Honda are trading on their past glory…
- yaaaaawn
  
  remember the good old days when hondas stood out from the Japanese competition. Nowadays they seem to struggle to even match the koreans