Honda poised to set U.S. sales record behind Accord, Civic
The 2013 Honda Accord was the top-selling car in the U.S. during April 2013. Credit: Honda
Honda Motor Co. is on pace to post record U.S. sales as four of its models lead their categories in retail deliveries, the automaker’s top marketing executive in the region said.
“We don’t see any huge disruption or trend on the horizon,” Mike Accavitti, Honda’s U.S. marketing chief, said in an interview today in Rochester, Michigan. “We think the market will continue to improve and Acura and Honda sales will continue to grow as we planned.”
Honda set a goal for this year of topping its best-ever U.S. volume of 1.55 million Honda and Acura brand cars and light trucks, set in 2007. That is being aided by sales of the Honda Accord, the top-selling car in the U.S. last month, and sales of the Civic compact, CR-V small sport-utility vehicle and Honda Odyssey minivan. Those four models lead in sales to individual consumers, known as retail sales, Accavitti said.
“From a sales perspective, we want to lead where it matters most, retail sales,” Accavitti said. Those sales “are decided by individuals, not by Avis and Hertz.” Vehicle sales to rental-car companies, such as Avis Budget Group Inc. and Hertz Global Holdings Inc., generally are less profitable than deliveries to individual consumers.
Honda’s total U.S. deliveries gained 6 percent this year through April to 468,650. The Tokyo-based company’s Honda brand increased 5.2 percent during that period while its Acura brand sales rose 14 percent.
Total Accord sales rose 26 percent in the first four months of the year while Civic fell 2.8 percent. CR-V sales decreased 6.4 percent and Odyssey slid 0.2 percent.
