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CB77
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(Here's the 3rd segment of the article about Honda in the Japanese Business Journal "BOSS")
Golden Days” under Kume and “Major Reforms” by Kawamoto Administration
10 Years after the Release of the “Fit”
Honda was on a strong march 10 years ago from 2001 to 2002. The “Fit” launched in June 2001 became a big hit and in 2002, the Fit stole the show when the model became the best-selling car in annual unit sales, beating the long-term winner “Corolla” from Toyota. Just 10 years since then, the “Fit” is still selling well but except for car manias, not many people can instantly name multiple Honda models other than “Fit.”
On October 27, 2011, President Takanobu Ito was nowhere to be seen at the premiere of Honda’s new car held at the company’s head office show room in Minami Aoyama, Tokyo. That’s because the new model was only a hybrid version of an existing model. Sho Minekawa, Managing Executive Officer and General Manager of Sales for Japan, made the opening speech.
“The environment that surrounds the domestic auto market remains challenging and the needs for greater economy and downsizing (of vehicle class) are becoming clearer. In this time, we want to make environmentally friendly, unique cars one after another. The “Freed” is received positively for its compact size and spacious interior and since its release in 2008, the model has sold over 270,000 units in cumulative total Today, we are proud to introduce its hybrid version. Honda will continue to pursue both economy and ecology.”
In his sales pitch Minekawa emphasized environment, ease of use and interior space---the three keywords promised on recent Honda models. When the new Japanese K-class car “N BOX” scheduled to be exhibited at the soon-to-be-held Tokyo Motor Show was premiered at the end of the event, Nobuyuki Matsumoto, Executive Officer and General Manager of Automobile Operations Business Division 3 gave this very engineer-like comment: “Although we cannot tell you the fuel economy, output and other numbers yet, it’s a Honda and I’m sure the car will meet your expectations for driving performance.”
Honda is far behind its competitors in its Japanese K-class car lineup and it is natural for the company to relook at this fast-selling segment, but another factor is that the company’s export business will collapse if the yen remains at the current record high level. To maintain the utilization levels of domestic factories, Honda must compete under the Japanese K-class car standard available only in Japan.
“Honda is the only company making small cars and Japanese K-class cars entirely in-house. We don’t use OEMs (original equipment manufacturers). Today we announce our determination to continue with this policy,” says Matsumoto. However, in this age where even Toyota uses OEM for its Japanese K-class cars through Daihatsu, Honda’s lofty declaration will surely impose higher hurdles on Honda than competitors in terms of maintaining factory utilization ratios and dealers.
As the market environment undergoes drastic change, Matsumoto holds a key to product planning at Honda. Matsumoto is the person responsible for developing the “Fit” that became a massive hit. Because the car was such as big hit, it is natural that all successor models of the “Fit” maintains the key concept of the original model and we can easily imagine that Matsumoto is relied upon in the company and has strong power.
When asked about what he thought about the “weakening DNA of Honda” during the blanket interview after the above mentioned premiere event, Matsumoto rebutted as follows after telling the reporters how they were “free to talk about what our DNA is: “Honda’s spirit is to create, lead and realize. We are all about innovating by providing both superior packaging and sportiness.”
When the questions drifted to differentiation with competitors, however, Matsumoto stopped mentioning driving performance or drivability as expected. As for the aforementioned “N BOX,” which is simply a boxy, tall wagon offering no fresh look, Matsumoto made these strong claims: “Look at the actual car at the Motor Show, and you’ll see how much easier it is to use the cargo area (compared to similar cars from rival brands). The ‘Fit’ is a product offering good fuel economy and excellent packaging in a compact car. This combination is even more important with Japanese K-class cars whose external dimensions are smaller. We will get serious about Japanese K-class cars and take on challenges to capture this segment where we first began, by ‘reconfirming the founding spirit.’”
Stagnating after an Unprecedented Success
The “Fit,” which has been the backbone of Honda’s domestic sales for the past 10 years is, to Honda, a car that excels in all four areas of fuel economy, interior space, ease of use and driving performance. However, not a few people have critical views about the car’s driving performance, saying, “The car is not fun to drive, but rather dry and insipid.” Many of these critics are not auto journalists, but car lovers who only know a little more than average consumers.
Groundbreaking features of the Fit included the center positioning of the gasoline tank that was traditionally placed below the rear seat, in order to ensure an unimaginably wide rear leg space while achieving versatile seat arrangements at the same time. Lured by this feature, luxury car owners switched to the “Fit” one after another.
In 2012 Honda finally saw a fruit of a quarter-of-a-century effort to develop a jet plane and began mass-production of the Honda Jet in the U.S. This jet plane also went against the commonsense notion that the engine must be located below the main wing, and carried its engine above the main wing. The innovation of the “Fit” was as impactful as this jet engine layout.
Of course, not all cars released by Honda over the past 10 years had the “Fit” platform and adopted the same center tank layout. However, we can easily imagine how Honda, after enjoying an unprecedented success, put top priority on interior space and ease of use in the name of needs of the times.
“Because this model was very profitable, it stripped Honda of its DNA and other precious traditions. Based on corporate logics, the choice would be a car that is boring but does sell volumes. Due to the great success of the ‘Fit,’ Honda lost sight of how it should grow the traditional two key flagship models ‘Civic’ and ‘Accord’ in Japan. In the meantime, the ‘NSX’ (super sport car) hybrid and high-output grade Type R are not the cars desired by Honda fans in the mass-consumer car segment,” says journalist Kiyoshi Tsukamoto. In his third year as Honda’s top man following his appointment in June 2009 shortly after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, Ito has not yet introduced a hit. However, Tsukamoto believes the current stagnation of Honda had begun in the second half of the rein of Takeo Fukui (2003 through 2009) who preceded Ito.
Certainly when Fukui became president, Honda had so much accolades from the “Fit.” For example, Honda introduced the unique, wide-bodied, six-passenger “Edix” having two seat rows in the following 2004. Nissan had already experimented with the two-seat-row, six-passenger car concept with its “Tino” and this was not the original idea of Honda. Personally I know someone who loves the “Edix” and is still driving it. Commercially, however, the car didn’t do very well and has already been discontinued.
With its current corporate strength, Honda should be able to be a little adventurous with such product-out model because even if it doesn’t sell, the effort can be well-justified as long as the car creates a buzz, even temporarily. However, Honda is completely resigned to refraining from such attempt. This is another strong example of “weakening DNA.”
“I suspect some confusion and chaos in product planning and development began to arise in the second half of Mr. Fukui’s rein. Given the fact that the super-high-efficiency engines Mazda and Daihatsu were developing in those days are now released, it’s not easy for Honda to catch up after all this lost time.” (Tsukamoto)
For Honda, the past 10 years is divided into the first five years when it enjoyed the success of the “Fit” and maintained its afterglow in a sense, and the second five years where it became stagnant in terms of product power.
Golden Days in the Late 80s
“Where did our Honda go?” Many Honda fans must be wondering. Let’s find out what the traditional DNA of Honda is by focusing on products.
The highlights of the era of Kiyoshi Kawashima who became the second president (1973 to 1983) after Soichiro Honda included the tall, compact car “City” in 1981 and start of first local passenger car production in the U.S. among all Japanese automakers in the following 1982. In 1981 Toyota also introduced the 2-door coupe, “Soarer” whose name subsequently became synonymous with a high-society car, but in those days there was a large gap between Toyota and Honda in terms corporate size. For your information, Honda reported 1 trillion yen of sales in 1980 (compared to approx. 9 trillion yen of consolidated sales in the first half of 2010).
Helped by the tailwind of the times, Honda could project its DNA best probably under the rein of its third president Tadashi Kume (1983 to 1990). Riding on the success of its “Soarer,” Toyota released several coupes including the “Levin/Toreno,” “MR2” and “Celica” in quick successions in 1983 to 1985, but Honda established an image of a sporty, young company surpassing that of Toyota having all these sport models.
A big turnaround came in 1985. In this year, Honda completed its head office building in Minami Aoyama and also set up three sales channels of Primo, Clio and Verno, carrying dedicated models under the keywords of family, affluence and personality, respectively (all dealerships were later consolidated into Honda Cars). It was also this year when Honda reentered the Japanese K-class car market and introduced its first luxury car “Legend.” President Kume was also there when Honda created a big buzz by doing well on the F1 circuit.
Honda enjoyed tailwind not only in the core business. In September 1985 when the Plaza Accord triggered a dramatic rise of the yen, competitors were far behind Honda in the U.S. where Honda had begun local production early. In the following 1986, Honda established Acura as a luxury car channel, and in 1987 the third-generation “Prelude” became an unprecedented hit. Honda showed some muscle parallel-importing its U.S. version “Accord Coupe” and the four-door “Accord Inspire” released in 1989 sold well.
It was only 1988 or 1989 when rival automakers managed to begin local production in the U.S., and Honda’s sales culminated in five years since 1985.
When the fourth president Nobuhiko Kawamoto (1990 to 1998) took over, however, the situation turned dramatically and Honda’s backbone was shaken. When the bubble economy burst in 1991, Soichiro Honda passed away and Kawamoto announced Honda’s withdrawal from the F1 race around the same time.
The primary cause of Honda’s dramatic fall was a dramatic shift in the consumers’ preference of cars. Projecting an image of a sporty brand, Honda was selling high-output cars driven by a high-rpm engine, particularly low coupes. When the economy worsened, however, top-sellers suddenly changed and multi-passenger minivans and SUVs became popular. Still, many engineers resented “Making minivans that look like commercial vehicles.”
Past Alliances That Failed to Ignite
However, Honda continued to lose ground in 1992 and 1993. It was around this time when the humiliating rumor that Mitsubishi might acquire Honda circulated. To keep the company alive, Kawamoto asserted the ultimate authority that earned him a nickname “Hitler” and continued to tell engineers to “Make cars that sell in a low-cost, profitable manner.”
Eventually Honda was blessed with the savior “Odyssey” in 1994. The 1995 “CR-V” and 1996 “Step Wagon” revised Honda completely. Without the “Odyssey,” however, actually Honda might have been swallowed by the waves of restructuring.
For your information, Honda, which now insists on maintaining its independence and not resorting to alliance, is not without a history of OEM partnerships and capital tie-ups. In the area of OEM, Honda supplied its “Odyssey” vehicles to Isuzu Motors when Isuzu withdrew from passenger car production in 1993, while receiving “Big Horn” and “Mu” SUV/diesel engines from Isuzu (the relationship of Honda and Isuzu was dissolved around 10 years ago).
Also, Honda’s tie-up with Britain’s Rover Group (at the time) was long and dates back to 1979. Honda acquired 20% of Rover shares, while Rover became a 20% investor in Honda’s British subsidiary. This tie-up lasted for 15 years until BMW acquired (and subsequently sold) Rover in 1994, but the two companies never developed a car jointly. The second-generation “Ascot” released in 1993 had a tall body similar to a Rover, but commercially this partnership was a disaster.
Looking back, Kume was the luckiest president who could maximally project Honda’s traditional DNA, while Kawamoto was forced to discover a different DNA when the company was struggling at the bottom.
“Mr. Kawamoto who singlehandedly turned Honda around had probably never dreamed of Honda’s uniqueness fading so much as it has today,” says Tsukamoto. One executive of Honda has this to say: “Now that our management base is very solid, there is not much damage. In 10 years Japan will become an extremely silver country and we can’t keep promoting Honda as a company with youthful creativity. Only history will tell whether our current path is correct.”
Honda as a company will prosper, yet its cars will lose appeal…I hope this cynical situation will not become a reality.
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CB77
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History Repeats Itself
(Quote from segment 3)
"When the fourth president Nobuhiko Kawamoto (1990 to 1998) took over, however, the situation turned dramatically and Honda’s backbone was shaken. When the bubble economy burst in 1991, Soichiro Honda passed away and Kawamoto announced Honda’s withdrawal from the F1 race around the same time.
The primary cause of Honda’s dramatic fall was a dramatic shift in the consumers’ preference of cars. Projecting an image of a sporty brand, Honda was selling high-output cars driven by a high-rpm engine, particularly low coupes. When the economy worsened, however, top-sellers suddenly changed and multi-passenger minivans and SUVs became popular. Still, many engineers resented “Making minivans that look like commercial vehicles.”
After the "Lehman collapse", Ito seems to be taking the same course that Kawamoto took after the Japanese bubble economy burst: De-emphasize smaller high-performance cars, and get out of F1 racing.
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CarPhreakD
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The difference is the Odyssey became a hit and has a lot of brand power even today in the face of shrinking minivan sales. Fukui (under the second half of his leadership) and Ito have not produced a hit, and it's been 3 years since the financiapocalypse. There have not been any groundbreaking, well executed models... only a couple of hybrids and the 9th generation Civic (though sales of the Civic have been pretty brisk lately).
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Grace141
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Not mentioned here is the speculation during 1989 to 1991 that Honda might move it's corporate base from Japan to the US becoming a truly American corporation. The bubble economy of the '80s was unique and I never understood why the Japanese would allow such monetary policies. It's harsh but the bubble economy of the '80s could be seen as the largest Ponzi scheme ever.
Another comment is about the "greed is good" all-about-me 1980s. It was a great time for sporty cars and I think it explains why Honda saw such success with it's compact Japanese style cars in the US market which then wanted fun personal cars. I wonder if the shift away from the Me Generation to the soccer-mom liberal family lifestyle of the 1990s was the death of the sporty car in favor of the people mover.
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CB77
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Yes, CarPhreakD, I agree. I think Ito thought this current economic slowdown would spur customers into de-contented cars and Hybrids. But that does not appear to be happening. If $4 and $5 gas does not make Hybrids sell, what will it take...$7 and $8 gas?
Plus when Kawamoto pulled us out of F1 racing in '91, it was after a spectacular performance by Honda in that venue. Whereas when Fukui pulled us out of F1 in December of 2008, it was after years of frustrating attempts to successfully re-engage the F1 battle. The financial crash gave us a face-saving way out of that effort. As Seinfeld would say: "I'm not saying that's bad..."
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aznxthuggie
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thanks for these articles cb77. Are you translating these?
Regardless, thank you, it's good that we can see what is/was happening with all their decisions
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CB77
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aznxthuggie wrote:
thanks for these articles cb77. Are you translating these?
Regardless, thank you, it's good that we can see what is/was happening with all their decisions
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No, this article was already translated...I received it by email from another American Honda employee. I have tried to find the website for BOSS magazine, so I could post it for all of you, but so far I can't find it.
I'm glad to see it is stimulating a lot of discussion among ToV-ers. Like I said in an earlier post, this article confirms a lot of what many of us had already pretty much figured out. While it is somewhat depressing to read all of this, it's like someone else has said here...the first step to the correction of a problem, is admitting there IS a problem. Maybe this article is forcing Honda to this realization, especially since this feeling must be so common in Japan, to be written-up in this business journel.
There are 4 more segments of this article, but I am almost becoming hesitant to post them...it is starting to feel like just "piling-on".
I guess it shows how much is riding on the new "Earth Dreams" family of engines, and some of the recently revealed new and freshened models. Although if this article is pretty close to reality, it will take more than a new engine or a new model to fix Honda.
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Grace141
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CB77, you might want to stop posting these articles. They're interesting reads and appreciated but employees passing them around by email and having them appear on a public site isn't easy to explain.
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bigblue
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They're already in the public domain though if they are in a business journal, so I don't see this as a big problem ?
They are interesting but I don't 100% agree with doom and gloom, though some concerns are valid. No doubt exciting sporty Hondas were pulled and the direction changed, but it is better to over-react to the financial crisis and change direction to weather it, concentrating on products that give good economy and value, than to go bust with an exciting product line that doesn't sell. At least the company survives intact, with it's independence. Of course, it would be even better to get it exactly right and have both economy and utility, and have affordable fun performance cars (like the BRZ). The article also seems to be straining to make a failure out of the Fit - this particular point seems a bit like changing the facts to fit the story. There are problems at Honda, and it is interesting how companies led by a visionary leader sometimes struggle to regain that spark. Honda's essence is being an intelligent mass-market company, but I don't see why that legacy can't be lived up to again. It takes time to change course, but it seems there are some good things on the way (Earth Dreams, NSX2 ...).
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330R
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Forget that. Please keep posting the remaining segments of the article, CB77. It's fascinating and sad at the same time, surprising in its familiarity but surprising again in its confirmation of deep seeded problems coming from deep inside the company.
There's nothing for any TOV member or Honda associate to explain to Honda in posting or discussing this article. If I were them I'd be far more concerned at the issues that spawned the article in the first place.
Grace, stop trying to hush discussion around here. Earlier this week you wanted to segment the Civic subforum into a separate 8th gen section because the 9th can't stand in the wake of it. Now you recommend stifling this flow of information. You're not going to stop people being dissatisfied if they're dissatisfied, by corraling them into a pen or asking them to be quiet.
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superchg2
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CB77, I don't see posting these as any problem at all.
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NealX
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Grace141 wrote:
CB77, you might want to stop posting these articles. They're interesting reads and appreciated but employees passing them around by email and having them appear on a public site isn't easy to explain.
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That's an odd thing to say.
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according2kev
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bigblue wrote:
They are interesting but I don't 100% agree with doom and gloom, though some concerns are valid.
It takes time to change course, but it seems there are some good things on the way (Earth Dreams, NSX2 ...).
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Agree on both points.
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revvin
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notyper once wrote abot the integra:
I miss the visibility, the lightness of drive, the double-wishbone suspension, the solid shift linkage and the airy interior. I just can't find it anywhere any more.
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Which manufacturer do I go to, to recreate atleast some of that magic?
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Grace141
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Neal wrote:
Grace141 wrote:
CB77, you might want to stop posting these articles. They're interesting reads and appreciated but employees passing them around by email and having them appear on a public site isn't easy to explain.
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That's an odd thing to say.
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I'm sure corporate politics happen within Honda just like every other company. I'd be careful, that's all I'm saying.
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BlackSeries
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revvin wrote:
notyper once wrote abot the integra:
I miss the visibility, the lightness of drive, the double-wishbone suspension, the solid shift linkage and the airy interior. I just can't find it anywhere any more.
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Which manufacturer do I go to, to recreate atleast some of that magic?
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Mini?
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FiSH-Chan
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revvin wrote:
Which manufacturer do I go to, to recreate atleast some of that magic?
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Ariel Atom
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HondaFan1990
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The articles have been wonderful to read. It allows us a glimpse inside the minds of people we normally wouldn't be able to. Like others have said, admitting there's a problem is the first step to making a change.
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BlackSeries
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FiSH-Chan wrote:
revvin wrote:
Which manufacturer do I go to, to recreate atleast some of that magic?
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Ariel Atom
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Slightly used 911GT3 is not bad either.
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RocketRon
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FiSH-Chan wrote:
revvin wrote:
Which manufacturer do I go to, to recreate atleast some of that magic?
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Ariel Atom
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Are you talking about the amazing Ariel Atom that's equipped with the Honda K20 powertrain? Just checking because I just read you dissing the 8th Si (also equipped with the K20) in a recent post?
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FiSH-Chan
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RocketRon wrote:
Are you talking about the amazing Ariel Atom that's equipped with the Honda K20 powertrain? |
Yeah that one.
RocketRon wrote:
Just checking because I just read you dissing the 8th Si (also equipped with the K20) in a recent post? |
You are funny. My most recent post is about the 8th gen HCH, not the Si, though since it is about the plastic trims then they may be related. My english isn't very good, by dissing you mean my observation and then posting that observation?
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atomiclightbulb
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CB77 wrote:
However, Tsukamoto believes the current stagnation of Honda had begun in the second half of the rein of Takeo Fukui (2003 through 2009) who preceded Ito. |
This much is obvious to anyone with half a brain.
Honda had a string of outstanding product introductions well into the mid-late 2000's. 7G Accord (2003), 1G TSX (2004), 8G Civic (2006), MDX (2007), come to mind.
It wasn't until the late 2000's that things started to go really... wrong: 8G Accord (2008), 2G TSX (2009), 4G TL (2009), Insight (2010), Crosstour (2010) etc.
This is what pisses me off when people kept calling for Ito to resign. The mediocrity, the missteps, and the general loss of Honda-ness in many models occurred in projects that had their start long before he became CEO. The 9G Civic is his responsibility of course, but I would have made the same decision in the face of impending U.S. financial collapse.
Ito has been CEO for 3 years now and I think the signs are encouraging. We have a properly done CR-V and RDX and a renewed focus on ergonomic interior layouts. The ILX is likewise a nice design and reviewers have hinted positive things about how it drives. New engines are on the way.
I'm hoping that Honda will make it all come together.
They've been fortunate in that their K, J, and R series engines have held their own against much more complicated competition. People bash Honda for lack of drivetrain innovation, but when a Civic with a SOHC R18 and a 5AT gets 47 MPG in real-world highway driving, while the competition needs Direct Injection, Turbos, DCTs, 6AT, and DOHC and still can't get ahead, that says something about Honda's engineering.
The next 2 years will be critical. I think they are getting the vehicle designs and interiors generally right. It all comes down to delivering big time on powertrains.
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Fan Koni
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These articles are a nice read - although very one sided.
Things like claiming Ito hasn't introduced a major hit in his first 3 years is a bad sign at same time claiming Honda needs some more profound change…
So shall it be some idiot running around marketing some supposedly silver bullet quick fix or deep long term restructuring?
The articles are a bit all over the place, so I don’t know how much credit relevant people will really give it – if at all.
As many have pointed out, with any large corporation there will always be reasons to write stuff like this.
The massive growth Honda has had in the past has surely changed it, I think someone nicely compared it to growing up and dealing with experiences along the way. Inducing "shocks" or challenges into growing and grown companies is absolute normal practice and I think somebody like Ito is the right approach.
Just the things the public hears about is encouraging actually. Ito riding on his bike to see the R&D center after the quake, or "taking responsibility" for the civic seams like Ito is a strong figure after all.
He could have easily blamed the R&D / prod.Mgt. for the civic, he never would have said "make it cheap", no, he seemed to close the lid on the talked up hype about it.
For R&D to reduce costs or find another way is daily business - saying we were made to make it "cheap" is really a lame excuse, but it shows how these guys are into it on covering their a….
So Ito acting on "taking responsibility" is a clear move to show people: "mistakes are natural, move on – take responsibility, we have things to do".
Moving on with the NSX and making it in the USA is another clear move.
So much happening - with or without this article.
I wonder how much this magazine is worth in Japan, or how much it stirs up.
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RocketRon
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FiSH-Chan wrote:
RocketRon wrote:
Are you talking about the amazing Ariel Atom that's equipped with the Honda K20 powertrain? |
Yeah that one.
RocketRon wrote:
Just checking because I just read you dissing the 8th Si (also equipped with the K20) in a recent post? |
You are funny. My most recent post is about the 8th gen HCH, not the Si, though since it is about the plastic trims then they may be related. My english isn't very good, by dissing you mean my observation and then posting that observation?
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I'm funny how? Like a clown? :)
Considering the circumstances, your recommendation for was intriguing.
That being said, I am in agreement with you that such a light car equipped with the Honda K20 is stunning. A K20 Lotus can also provide some entertainment!
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FiSH-Chan
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atomiclightbulb wrote:
The 9G Civic is his responsibility of course, but I would have made the same decision in the face of impending U.S. financial collapse.
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I am wondering, is that when he said to lower the cost on the Civic, is that for the US version, and mostly due to the currency exchange reasons? Because (although I haven't seen one yet) quite a few members on here seem to like what was done with the asian / right hand drive version based on spec list and pictures, and at least one seems to have sat in one and said there seems to be not too difference in materials quality between the 8th gen and 9thgen.
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FiSH-Chan
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RocketRon wrote:
I'm funny how? Like a clown? :) |
That you think I am dissing the K20 / Civic Si. I never felt the 8th gen (any model) is reeeaaaally that special as some of you do, but of course, that is dfiferent for the 8th gen CTR.
RocketRon wrote:
Considering the circumstances, your recommendation for was intriguing.
That being said, I am in agreement with you that such a light car equipped with the Honda K20 is stunning. A K20 Lotus can also provide some entertainment! |
This we can fully agree. I think I am no different when it comes to what we like (that is why we are on here?) but the realty is, what we (or at least I) can actually get.
In this case the only cars i can really enjoy is one that I can afford to buy and use, and to go to work in and bring my family safely in to places.
Maybe Honda should rename some of the tech Earth Reality. ok I made myself sad :(
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RocketRon
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FiSH-Chan wrote:
revvin wrote:
Which manufacturer do I go to, to recreate atleast some of that magic?
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Ariel Atom
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Fish-Chan,
I just realised that considering the Ariel Atom's powertain is taken from Honda, your answer to the question was pure genius. Please accept my proper respect.
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WongKN
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We will find out for ourselves very soon.
FiSH-Chan wrote:
atomiclightbulb wrote:
The 9G Civic is his responsibility of course, but I would have made the same decision in the face of impending U.S. financial collapse.
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I am wondering, is that when he said to lower the cost on the Civic, is that for the US version, and mostly due to the currency exchange reasons? Because (although I haven't seen one yet) quite a few members on here seem to like what was done with the asian / right hand drive version based on spec list and pictures, and at least one seems to have sat in one and said there seems to be not too difference in materials quality between the 8th gen and 9thgen.
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ciwai08
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I'm not an expert by any means, but I always thought the kei car class was one of the most interesting aspects of japanese culture when I visited the country. I'm also a fan of the N box, but the article makes it feel like a mediocre product--" simply a boxy, tall wagon offering no fresh look", something I didn't quite think so when I saw depictions of its layout. It actually seemed as revolutionary as the fit, or out-fitting the fit so to speak. Googling N box sales, brought these links:
http://bestsellingcarsblog.com/2012/02/18/japan-kei-cars-january-2012-honda-nbox-up-to-5th-place/
http://bestsellingcarsblog.com/2012/03/15/japan-kei-cars-february-2012-honda-nbox-now-on-podium/
which indicate rising sales in the few months its been on the market. It might be the right kind of car for japanese society for the times, and a solid potential to be a mainstay in the honda product mix like the fit. In terms of space utilization its a good example of traditional honda DNA in a new product.
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WongKN
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What I suspect is that this article has gone a bit 'too far' on to the negative side of the arguement, probably done in order to make a stronger point. The author do look like he or she has talked to lots of Honda people, witness the numerous quotes. However, with quotes like these, there is always the possibility that the author is being selective - i.e. he filters out those 'yes we are doing the right thing' positive quotes and uses only the quotes that suits the general, more negative, message of the article. Still, the most important point is that the general tone and conclusions made in the article seems to jive with what many of us are saying here, even if not all of us are this negative. I for e.g., while agreeing with most of the points in the article, do not think things are as bad as it seems to be, and that there is still a chance for Honda even in the near term. Though not near enough for us to see a difference over the next couple of years.
I have not seen the N-Box in real life yet so I can't comment if the 'so-so' judgement made of it is justified or not. But there are already lots of similar vehicles from the likes of Nissan and Daihatsu so perhaps the point was that the N-Box is not class changing, or even class-leading, just that it allows Honda to catch up with others, i.e. Honda in a 'follow the leader' scenario, instead of being followed. And that Honda's of old used to be class-changing, even if its a judgement made only by Honda fans. So the message is that if even the loyal and obviously biased Honda fanatics are not jumping for joy over a 'class changing, leading edge' N-Box, then it possibly doesn't have what it takes to be a 'true Honda'. Perhaps this is the message.
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