Honda HR-V Outrunning Sales, Conquest Projections - Ward's Auto
Trucks, says the ’16 HR-V subcompact CUV has been a runaway best-seller far exceeding the automaker’s sales projections. ?As soon as the truck arrives at the dealership there’s a buyer for the HR-V. ?We estimated first-year sales of 70,000 HR-Vs and that’s way too conservative,” he says. We can’t make 100,000 HR-Vs the first year, but we’re looking at ways to make more. All are based on car platforms but offer all-wheel drive, putting them in the light-truck category – a segment that accounts for 55% of Honda sales, up from 52% a year ago. Jenkins dismisses the suggestion that Honda meet HR-V demand by building more of them on the same line it shares with its platform-mate, the Fit car, at its new plant in Celaya, Mexico. ?We plan to make more HR-Vs as soon as possible,” but not by cutting Fit output, he says. ?The plant has only been open 1½ years and the quality is very good, but we can’t pull one vehicle (production) down to pull the other one up. HR-V sales are moving like a rocket ship, but Fit is also selling very well, too, so we have to look at... The HR-V is important to Honda because ?the new-entry level CUV was designed as a conquest vehicle” to draw new buyers to the brand, Jenkins says. Source: wardsauto.com
