Honda Claims Bean Counters And Committees Are Ruining The Brand

Nearly a year into his job, Honda Motor Co CEO Takahiro Hachigo plans a back-to-the-future shift at the Japanese automaker, driving clearer demarcation lines between those who develop cars and those who sell them, two senior company insiders told Reuters.

The thrust of the changes, to be unveiled by Hachigo in Tokyo on Wednesday, will be to reduce the influence of sales and marketing teams on car design, reversing moves by previous chief Takanobu Ito, the people said.

"Over the years, our product development process became overly complex and slow, involving a huge number of engineers and sales and marketing people," said one of the two Honda executives. As a result, "we began producing watered down, uninspiring, what you might call designed-by-committee, cars."

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cidflekken - 2/24/2016 11:08:46 AM

+5 Boost

If you look at the evolution of Honda and Acura over the past couple of decades, what he says is truth. They eliminated low-volume cars like the CRX, Del Sol, Prelude, S2000, CL, Legend Coupe, Element, etc. And it effectively stripped the two brands of identity.

MDarringer - 2/24/2016 8:23:27 PM

+2 Boost

Agree and styling has gone into the toilet. What made cars like the 2nd and 3rd generation Preludes and the two generations of the CRX was the rightness of the form of their styling and the perfection of exercising restraint.

The new Civic is a good vehicle but it's a cluttered styling mess.

Dexter1 - 2/24/2016 9:22:48 PM

0 Boost

No shit. They're just realizing this now?

MDarringer - 2/24/2016 10:12:49 PM

0 Boost

IKR?