Honda's Great Gas Mileage Blunder
Author: Matt Timion

From its inception, Honda Motor Co. has been more concerned
with fuel economy and emissions than any other manufacturer.
This has been evident since Honda entered America's automobile
market in 1971 with the "n600." This was a 2-cylinder car that
easily achieved 45 miles-per-gallon. They have repeatedly had
at least one model of automobile, per generation that has
superior gas mileage. These range from the CVCC, the CRX HF,
the Civic VX, and most recently the Insight Hybrid.

In the last decade, however, Honda appears to have departed its
small car and gas mileage roots in search of bigger profits. The
change coincides with the death of Soichiro Honda, the founder
of Honda Automotive. When Soichiro Honda died in 1991, an
observable change in Honda's business model and priorities
surfaced.

With the change of priorities, the economical cars by which
Honda was known vanished, only to be replaced by giant trucks,
vans, SVUs, and luxury cars that would make our grandparents
jealous. The company that was once known for making "those
little cars" became the company that made "those big cars." The
new Honda appeared to be in direction opposition of what the old
Honda was about.

When Honda was busy making giant money-makers, Toyota decided
to take a chance and develop something truly amazing: the
full-sized hybrid. While Honda later followed suit with a
smaller commuter vehicle, it was too late. Toyota had the
hearts and minds of people who cared about fuel economy,
emissions, and safety. The name Honda reminded people of the
giant Odyssey, or the once small but now large Civic. Toyota,
on the other hand, sparked images of the clean, efficient Prius
and the all electric RAV4.

Honda is now trying to clean up its image, by producing a
version of the Civic that runs on natural gas, and even
introducing the first commercially available hydrogen-powered
vehicle. While these are all giant steps in the right
direction, Honda still has a long way to go to make up for a
decade of bad decisions.

Honda jumping on the big car bandwagon proved to be a mistake,
one which has affected Hondas market share ever since. Profits
may be up, but consumer confidence is down, at least compared
to Toyota. The history and good name of Honda will definitely
help it get back on top of the efficiency game, assuming that
they still want the honor. It will prove difficult, however, to
win the back the hearts and minds of people after such a
disappointing blunder.


About The Author: Matt Timion owns and operates
http://GasSavers.org ( http://www.gassavers.org). An avid Honda
and gas mileage ethusiast, he owns and maintains a number of
Honda automobiles, including a class Honda n600.