What has happened Honda?

maidhc

A few years back when I went to trade a 182 Civic Sedan for a baby wagon the cost to change to a 12 month old CRV was more than the cost to buy a new RAV4 PHEV. The RAV was a superior car in every way.

Since I notice the new Civic is pretty much not on the market given its price and I have never seen the new CRV.

The ownership experience of the Civic was marred by constantly broken AC and no parts availability (admittedly it was COVID times), but it was a lovely car with full premium plus spec.

In the US Honda is a volume seller. Why don’t they even try here? They did sell a good few in the past.

bazz26

Their models on offer are limited and are gone too expensive. 50k for a brand new Civic. 70k for a CRV? Comical.

Dealer network is tiny.

Brand marketing here is non existent.

To summarise, the Irish market is small and insignificant to Honda these days because of the above. Like Toyota most of their cars sold in the US are built there, they are a huge employer. They also have a model for nearly every segment there. No import taxes, Euro/Japan currency exchange rates or Brexit to worry about.

Even in the good times, Honda were not a huge volume seller in Ireland.

People are buying cheaper alternatives from the Korans and Chinese now.

Mazda heading the same way.

Movie Maestro

Sad times alright, I haven't even seen a new Civic on the road at all this year, looks like the high price has put most people off!

mac167

Honda is literally on the verge of pulling out of Ireland it seems, or they are just not very popular at all in Europe after shutting off Swindon. The prices of their new cars in Ireland are horrendously priced, which is a shame because IMO they are very decent cars, just not for the price (Civic EHEV is a good example, close to 50k ffs).

I also noticed that Japanese brand are disappearing in general, replaced by Korean and Chinese. Toyota is still going strong, Nissan is pretty much a Renault clone, Honda/Mazda/Suzuki are pretty much gone, etc etc.

kirving

Some taxes to consider in the US on top of this, but base price is €23,370. You could buy two Civics in the US and have change left over.

I'm not sure of the reason, but necessity of a hybrid powertrain in the EU, VRT, higher VAT, no more Honda production in Europe and low volumes (are JDM cars even different any more?!) certainly all combine do drive the price up.

Interestingly though, the Euro/Yen exchange should help the pricing - but pricing decisions can be made a long time in advance too.

maidhc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122086307#Comment_122086307

I saw my first one yesterday. Nice car, but not at the price. I paid something like 26k for a 12 month old demo one back in 2019 with every possible extra I know things are gone up, but not that much.

The place will be poorer without Honda, no amount identikit chinesium cars will come close to fill the void.

cobham

Yes I was surprised to return mine for annual service to find my garage is no longer a dealer in Honda. I was told of loss of UK manufacturing base then problems with importing cars from Japan and that cost of parts had similarly skyrocketed.

I love my car, never a bit of trouble in over 8 yrs.

MarkN

New CRV about to launch properly in Ireland during the summer. I’ve seen a handful of Civics this year. As you’ve said, a shame as they are wonderful cars for the most part.