"We think this segment is going to explode."
That's James Jenkins, manager, Product Planning, Honda Trucks.
He's talking about the subcompact crossover segment.
Although people generally, no doubt, think about "Honda"
in the context of either the Accord or Civic, the company's
light truck oferings are non-trivial in the company's overall
portfolio, with the CR-V, Pilot, Odyssey, and Ridgeline
accounting for 591,805 units of sales last year, or 42% of
Honda's total U.S. sales. According to Jef Conrad, Honda
Div. senior vice president and general manager, the CR-V
has been the number-one selling SUV.
So they know a little more about this segment than they are
probably given credit for.
The segment that Jenkins is talking about includes vehicles
like the Nissan Juke, Chevrolet Trax, Mitsubishi Outlander
Sport, and Mazda CX-3 as primary competitors and the Fiat
500X and Jeep Renegade, as secondary.
2016 Honda HR-V:
Small Only in Size
Although this is a subcompact crossover utility, Honda
designers and engineers packed a whole lot into the HR-V.
by Gary S. Vasilash
> Editor-In-Chief
p Naohisa Morishita, chief engineer and development leader
for the subcompact crossover HR-V, says that when they were
developing the vehicle they worked to achieve characteristics
that are otherwise opposite: fun yet sophisticated, youthful yet
mature. They worked to achieve the personal nature of a coupe
with the utility of a minivan and the sense of toughness and
safety characteristic of an SUV.
AD&P; > June 2015 > FEATURE > 2016 Honda HR-V: Small Only in Size > Gary S. Vasilash > gsv@autofeldguide.com
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