Don't buy a new Honda in 2021 or 2022. Here's why...
Honda Australia has officially killed your ability to get a better deal. If you were shopping for a Honda in the near future, this is a consumer warning: That could be a bad idea…
You’ve probably seen the reports in the motoring press sucking up Honda Australia’s public relations rhetoric, in the hope of holding onto advertising revenue, getting press vehicles and attending paid product launches.
Not only is this biased and unscrutinised anti-consumer pretend-journalism a completely flawed system, it means you’re not getting the full story about Honda’s new business mode and how it will cost you, the consumer, thousands of dollars more for every Honda you (shouldn’t) buy.
Not only do I strongly urge you to reconsider buying a Honda to avoid being stuck with a badly supported product, but you’re also going to pay maximum price for an inferior car.
Let’s break it down and understand what’s really happening here:
Does anybody even look critically at what these companies say anymore?
The notion of Honda leading the automotive industry in this country is the same as saying SsangYong, or Great Wall Motors do. Honda might sell a significantly greater number of vehicles than GWM or SsangYong, but it’s still not leading in anything remotely similar to, say, Toyota, Hyundai, Mazda or Kia.
Honda sells on the power of pipedreams, seemingly.
Stephen Collins runs what I can only describe as the poisoned chalice of Honda Australia, and he’s also Treasurer of the car industry’s grubby lobby group, the FCAI.
Mr Collins, was that first step taken today or 15 months ago? I’m already confused. The truth is, 15 months back the bigwigs back at Honda Japan (probably) got totally fed up reaming out Honda Australia for its continued unprofitability and sliding sales.
And they were given options:
Option A) bail out of Australia altogether,
Option B) appoint an independent distributor in the manner of Renault, or;
Option C) pull the ‘desperation parachute’ ripcord and go for the so-called ‘agency model’.
Honda Australia went with C because they’re already doing it in New Zealand. Honda Aus boned a bunch of dealers, some of whom were very cranky concerning its conduct (to the point the government even changed the legislation around how hard businesses, like Honda Australia, can be allowed to ruin franchisees’ businesses in this way in future).
Car dealers certainly do hate it when car companies treat them the way dealers have, historically speaking, been treating their customers for years.
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Why has Honda fallen from grace?
Let’s take a look at what Honda Australia has tried to do in order to save itself from oblivion. It starts with the company’s own self-image - the brand. What exactly does Honda stand for in 2021?
Stephen Collins has attempted to explain that:
Okay, the epic gravitational pull of an alluring brand really only works for brands like Apple and Tesla - brands people want. Honda is neither. Not today anyway. Honda was close to that in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
The last relatively interesting Honda they made was the Civic Type-R in 2006 with the triangle exhausts. That was kind of it. Oh, and they did the tres cool Accord Euro with the cool ‘when things just work’ ad. Remember that? Honda’s last moderate success, in 2005 or something.
But then the GFC hit, and Honda suffered the equivalent of what for a human would be a profound traumatic brain injury. It lost the ability to function as a leading carmaker in the world. Inventor of VTEC. BMW of the east. Incapacitated in 2006 or 2008. Dr Kevorkian on standby ever since. Never to recover, seemingly. One of the automotive industry’s great modern tragedies.
Why I don't recommend Honda in Australia
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You’re a car company, Honda. Brand experience starts with the product - the cars - and yours is objectively crap. As in, spectacularly uncompetitive.
Sales have plummeted from a peak of 50-ish thousand in 2006-2008, if memory serves, with something of an anomalous resurgence in 2018, but back to 29,000 last year and on track for 23,000 this year. Probably less, seeing as you’ve just boned the Jazz and City, which were volume sellers.
Take the flagship in the stable. Let’s pretend I’m a customer in the market for a five-seat SUV. For $50k I can have a Honda CR-V VTi or a Mazda CX-5 GT. The Honda has a 1.5 turbo engine with 140 kilowatts and a CVT. The Mazda has a 2.5 turbo engine with 170 kilowatts and a six-speed auto.
That’s game, set and match, right there. That’s 21 per cent more peak power, and when you calculate it out, the CX-5 offers a staggering 75 per cent more power at 2000rpm, which is where ordinary people drive. And the fuel consumption penalty is only 11 per cent for the Mazda - for 75 per cent more power at ordinary driving revs.
Mazda today is what Honda was, two decades ago. You cannot turn Honda Australia into Automotive Apple or Japanese Tesla using objectively mediocre products on a sharp downward sales trajectory.
Nobody is ever going to camp overnight on the street in a queue stretching around the block, for the new Civic. It’s just not going to happen.
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Backing your Odyssey into the service centre for its 15,000km oil change is not how you experience joy, in my view. Neither is 10,000-kilometre or six-monthly service intervals.
It’s usually a simple task to dissect marketing messages, but ‘Joy’ is like shooting fish in a barrel. Ask the kids in row 3 of an Odyssey how joyful it is to sit back there for an extended road trip.
And don’t think for a moment you can take all your stuff in an Odyssey, because compared with a Kia Carnival with a 2.8-tonne GVM, you lose over 400kg of payload in the Honda. Five kids, plus their restraints, the double and triple prams, the luggage, the toys and scooters, the eski - happy holidays await. I hope your customers can pack light, Honda.
Also, don’t bother trying to tow a trailer with that dismal 1000kg braked capacity, because you’ve only got a 50kg static towball download limit. Fill the Odyssey with people and some gear and you’re nearly at capacity, basically. Joy.
Buy the Kia Carnival instead. Here are my two reports explaining why (in detail):
2021 Kia Carnival: Australian review - everything you'll love and hate >>
Just in case this is not clear (and make sure you’re sitting down for this one), Honda is very helpful and makes it very clear where you, the consumer, stands:
No more best price, no negotiating, no savings or discounts - it’s full price or nothing. Nice one, Honda.
This is just like buying a Macbook Pro, right? Except Apple is a standalone aspirational item. The Chanel of computers, or something. You’ve either got a sexy Mac or a filthy PC, right?
People pay more for a Mac because of the cachet - the intangibles - mainly - even though a PC for half as much is twice as fast and prevents tooth decay - whatever.
2021 Honda Civic VTi-S: Same old VTEC with multi-point fuel injection; Hyundai i30 N-Line (same $31K pricetag) gets direct injection & more power.
But Honda isn’t Apple. All they’re doing here is removing your opportunity to negotiate a better price. So, instead of going to an independent retailer and negotiating the best price, you’re paying full-price, from start to finish, for an objectively inferior product, generally, lacking the sex appeal of a Mac in the automotive domain.
Apart from that, good plan, Honda. And, in case it was unclear:
Translated, what they’re trying not to say here is, ‘No discounts for you at Honda. Not any more.’ This is a desperation move, but ‘Designed for Joy’, apparently.
Nobody buys Odyssey because the Kia Carnival is superior in every way. Nobody buys Accord, because it’s in a dead segment. Meaning Honda Australia is betting the farm on CR-V, HR-V and Civic, and they’re hoping crushing all those loyal dealers’ businesses a few months back will be enough. I’m not seeing how that’s going to pan out in their favour.
There’s only five cars in the Honda range. Two are in segments that don’t sell. And there’s no compelling reason to buy the other three. They haven’t even moved to direct injection yet; still holding out with the old multi-point. Even Subaru has moved on from MPI. Put as much lippy on the pig as you want - it’s never going to be Kristen Bell in the sauna, asking for a foot massage.
Yawn.
It’s going to be very interesting indeed how long they persist with this novel experiment before a senior executive beancounter in Minato pulls the pin. And if that happens and you own a shiny new CR-V, it’ll be just like owning a Holden.
I’d be considering this issue quite carefully before deciding what new car to buy next, if I were in the market over the next weeks to months.
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