Volkswagen chief executive Martin Winterkorn squeezes his bulky frame behind the wheel of the new Honda Civic and takes out a tape measure - part of a forensic, and very public, inspection of the five-door compact at last September's Frankfurt car show.
"You were a role model for us for many years once," he tells an attendant Honda official. "Really."
They were the words of a man who knows Honda is on the ropes in the United States, and who fervently hopes he can eat the Japanese group's lunch in its biggest market.
The United States is home to nearly one in two Honda buyers, but its sales there fell 7 percent last year while overall U.S. vehicle sales expanded at a double-digit pace.
Read Article