Odyssey Van Only New Honda Not Hurting-WHAT Do They Need To Do To Turn The Ship Back Around?

They lost their design mojo when the founder died. Used to be fearless with 4 year product cycles, always ahead of others and then turned sadly conservative. The designs were very resolved, and now are a jumble. How is it that honda doesnt even produce the leading edge engines? That was their core competency. Their arc crested in the early 90's with the NSX and 2nd gen Legend, not to mention Accord and Civics from that era. Lets hope they can pull it together.

1. Don't try to be everything to everyone. Simplify the number of platforms, models and model variants:
HONDA: Fit, Civic (sedan & MPV variants,) Accord (coupe & sedan,) CR-V, Pilot & Odyssey plus one sports car (coupe & convertible.) Then simplify the number of model variations to simply LX, EX and SI.
ACURA: DL (small car coup & sedan, about Civic sized,) TL (size of TSX today,) RL (size of TL today with long-and short-wheelbase versions,), RDX and MDX plus one sports coupe. Keep each model simple with only option packages: Base, Luxury and Sports
2. Design BEAUTIFUL vehicles. Hire a world-class lead designer to buld a great design team. Develop an overall design theme for Honda (as Kia has done) and another for Acura (as Hyundai has done.) Same company, but totally different looks.
3. As an engine company, what happened? Honda is behind the curve on traditional and new-technology engines. Emphasize engineering again. Also, do the obvious ane vastly reduce road other noises.
4. Change the Honda ordering system to allow greater flexibility and timely fulfillment for both dealer and customer orders.
5. Identify one lead idea that will set Honda apart from others as Ford has done with technology, and Audi with interiors. Honda used to be known for being fun and well engineered. Can they recapture that mojo?

From AutoGuide.com

It doesn’t take a genius to know that Honda‘s Odyssey is destined to be a brisk seller. As the undisputed king of the minivan segment, the Odyssey is still popular even with an onslaught of new competitors from Chrysler, Dodge, Kia and Toyota.

The rest of the lineup isn’t so hot. The Insight is being outsold by an 8-1 margin by its arch rival, the Toyota Prius, while the Crosstour’s projected 40,000 sales aren’t materializing, with the car selling closer to 20,000 units. The CR-Z also appears to have slowed after a promising start, although sports car sales are always dismal in the colder months.

Honda faces a predicament, since the rest of their lineup, like the Civic, Accord and CR-V are all fairly old, and due for replacement. But with only stagnant or unappealing products in the showroom, 2010 will be a dismal year for the big H. Hopefully the company can pull out of their nosedive, but their legendary maverick attitude (and accompanying arrogance that their way is the right way, market desires be damned) may see a number of lean years before their once faithful customers return.

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They will make a comeback, they are restructuring. Everyone is. All of their flagship models are near a major refresh they also apparently have a few exciting models in the works

I concur!

Funny, no one has mentioned how they will stop the Hyundai/KIA momentum...The Koreans are dismantling them one brick at a time

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No one has mentioned it because it doesn't fit the usual "only Toyota needs to fear Hyundai" meme of the internets.

I have never been a Honda fan. But I will say that odd as it may seem, the current Accord is the first to really interest me since the 1990 model. When Honda said they would be offering the Accord with a diesel in North America I finally declared to all I knew that a Honda was finally in my future. Then they back-pedalled on that. Now, Honda will never see me as an owner until they do offer the Accord with that diesel. I simple don't trust the Germans when it comes to any form of engineering, much less their diesels. So what can Honda do to regain some form of what they had in the past? Listen to their customers. Go back to first principles. And develop a plan and stick to it, until a better option arrives. That means a V8 and rear drive for your top of the range Acura models you morons!

They should bring out the 89-91 models from mothballs and place them in the lobby of their headquarters. Those cars weren't perfect but if anything could help them understand who they were it would be that.

Question; Hyundia. Answer; Hyundia

The old Honda:
-The best engines and leading fuel economy,
-World class reliability.
-Light wight and crisp handling.
-Large windows for great visibility in all directions.
-Conservative yet handsome styling.
-Double wishbones on all 4 corners even for entry level cars.

The new Honda:
- Engines have lost edge as other manufactures advance.
- Reliability still good but not as good as before.
- Heavy cars with numb electric steering.
- Raised belt-line = Smaller windows, giant blind spots and claustrophobic interiors.
- Trying to hard to be cool styling results in over done ugly cars.

The fix: Take all your product designers and throw them into a volcano.

I cannot remember the last time (years) I became excited about a Honda product. The only thing they have going for them now is their old reputation for reliability. To the Honda CEO, Please make exciting products again.

Take a look at the rest of the Honda lineup (I won't get into Acura):

Civic - outdated, no big news on the 9th generation (engine, options, add-ons, upgrades, etc. And the spy shots are less than thrilling making it look more like a refresh than a re-design.

Accord - backwards technology, starting with LED taillamps last generation back to Hyundai inspired starburst bulbs. The back end got a horrid cutoff shortened look and the car itself grew to accomodate the obese population it lugs around. The Coupe is nice, but the option list is minimal for the premium pricing, and combinations are hard to come by. Leather puts you in a V6 automatic without say. I'd be fine with 4 cylinders in that car, leather and a stick. No dice.

Pilot - a look-alike Nissan Pathfinder if I ever saw one. It went from projector headlamps backwards to big bug-eyed Toyota Tacoma lamps. It falls into the beige of the rest of the SUV mainstream.

Element - a large toaster with the same engine as the TSX but w/ AWD (hmm...nope not gonna go into Acura). It came out with cladding and quirky styling that made grandmothers and teen girls giddy. So instead of doing major cleanup, the left the design alone (outdated again) and gave it full body panels finally. Oh and a pet option that gives you some weathertech items to make your car pet friendly while adding $$$ to the cost. Or even the dark grey with dark oversized wheel version with no power upgrades, just looks. Pass.

Ridgeline - Why wait to pull it from dealers, just sell the rest to fleet companies or CarMax and be done with it. Honda did to the Ridgline what it did to the S2000, nothing. They gave it some freshen up looks and walked away for years. And just like the S2000, this car will die as it should.

Insight - It used to be a small peppy two door hybrid with funky styling that appealed to plenty. Now it's a bloated 4 door Prius wannabe that cannot keep up with the competition except maybe for price. Honda really messed up when they made this car, when instead they should have made the current CR-Z the new insight and made the CR-Z something else (noted below). Killed another one Honda.

CR-Z - What was advertised as a sporty hybrid with a manual (which is a great thing), it fell off the expectation radar quickly. I am sure to those who drive a Prius or something similar that have little performance this will seem like a big jump, but they missed the mark. As I said above, Honda could have done MUCH better had they made the current CR-Z the new insight and really kicked it with a new CR-Z that was similar in size but offered a Civic Si or turbo 4 engine with a 6 speed and lightweight. They could still save themselves if they offered two variants of the CR-Z, keep the Hybrid but offer something petrol only with some true power and kicks in the handling department.

Accord CrossTour - It shouldn't exist. Plain and simple. I cannot figure out if it was Honda's response to not produc

I will also add that I used to own a 2002 Civic EX Coupe with a 5 speed. I loved that car, it was basic, fun, spirited and economical with fuel no matter how much you wanted to flog it.

Since the redesign I lost interest in everything they offered. But as was stated above they are following the hybrid kool-aid trail like Toyota so I expect nothing in terms of sporty, fun small cars from them in the future. I will look towards Ford, Mazda, etc. for my next car.

As a 2007 Honda Civic owner I think that they should have a tryptronic tranny with hid lights, and direct injection engines to further improve the power and fuel economy, maybe a diesel option? How about improving the looks? The quality has been slipping, they have been releasing cars that are not 5 star crash rated, that was unheard of three years ago, the trannys have to be beefed up and why not have full size spares?

As far as improving the looks I wasn't referring to the Civic, I think it looks fine, but most other aren't known for there style, Honda is still on the top of my list because of the safety and economy and sportiness, it's tough to be on top, constant improvements keeps you there.