Well this certainly doesn't bode well...
(from Green Car Congress)
Chicago Tribune. Honda has been offering a $1,200 incentive to its dealers on each sale of an Accord Hybrid—the first hybrid car to receive such financial support from the manufacturer.
The offers are scheduled to end 5 Dec. Dealers can pass any or all of that money along to the consumer. The 2006 Accord Hybrid will go on sale around 1 Dec with new front and rear styling changes.
Sales of the Accord Hybrid dipped to 1,266 in October, down from 2,336 in August and 2,352 in September. Honda had targeted 20,000 units sold for all of 2005, and is currently tracking slightly above 15,000 through October.
Honda designed the Accord hybrid (
earlier post) with performance more in mind than fuel economy. While the EPA rates the Prius at 55 mpg US, and the Civic Hybrid at 50 mpg, the Accord hybrid offers only 32 mpg.
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After convincing untold #s of folks that YES my Accord IS hybrid, I've come to the conclusion that this was inevitable. Honda is barking up the wrong marketing tree here with the low-key HAH marketing to date.
Instead of pushing the power side, they should realize who the core Accord customer is- a regular family that wants a nice, comfy car and something bigger than the car they drove in college. Dad may like a V6 or 15 more HP, but isn't going to decide solely on that.
The Accord is not for people who want super-duper anything. They want a good car, period. Don't try to cram the hybrid version into the civic/prius hybrid space, or into the 'luxurious performance sedan' space.
That's why its not selling well- nobody knows what to compare it against, so they default to comparing vs the smaller hybrids. Then it doesn't look so hot, especially for $10k more. Shoot for the existing Accord type of person who 'just wishes I could get a little better mpg.' That's probably most of 'em.
A Honda ad for the HAH SHOULD go something like this:
"...exactly what you expect- an Accord in every way- the bedrock of the midsize family sedan segment. Oh, by the way, it gets better mpg than any other midsize family sedan you can buy, with a tax credit to boot."
(Good thing the Prius is a hatch)
Many people love their smaller, more efficient cars. But the Accord is one of Honda's golden geese and its not a compact. They need to flaunt that, and appeal to the legions of buyers who want better mpg, but not a smaller car. They have done a horrible job by 1) barely marketing it at all, and 2) marketing it as a faster, more powerful Accord. Most of those who buy Accords don't care so much for power- look at how many V6 you see compared to the 4cyl versions. I love my V6, but most Accords out there are the base 4cylinder.
The hybridized 4cyl Accord, properly marketed to the target population, would be a category killer. Well, all they got is the V6 for now; they need to push that for all its worth. Although I liked that it only came in the top trim, they NEED to diversify the options to drop that base price!
slow HAH sales...$1200 incentive
Plus, they're the only cities where driving a golf cart on the city streets is legal. You see them everywhere up there. A lot of the "retired" crowd tend to lose their driver's license due to health, age, whatever... and get a golf cart so they can still drive. So, take into account all the cars on the road, add in a few hundred golf carts that are zig zagging through the cars (a lot of them not even licensed to drive an automobile), and you have quite a mess! But anyways, I digress...
