Our in-house writer, Matt St-Pierre, is mere days away from getting his hands on a fresh new 2012 Honda Civic for a first drive review.
Although the car is the headline, there is another ongoing situation that could possibly mar the arrival of the long-awaited car. Yes, the earthquake and subsequent tsunami and nuclear situation in Japan.
It has already forced every Japanese carmaker to make difficult decisions pertaining to plant slow downs or even temporary shut downs. Honda is in this precarious position.
Luckily for it, most of the Hondas sold in North America are made in North America. That therefore means that unplugging assembly lines are unlikely however, every product made here still contains a large number of parts made there.
Production at its transplant assembly operations have been reduced but as stated, nothing has come to a screetching halt. Yet.
For Honda, struggling Honda actually, this could not come at a worse time. As you know and have read, the new 9th generation Civic is about to hit showrooms. If ever there was an important car for this brand, this is it.
Thankfully, production began back in January and, according to sources, 10,000 to 12,000 units should be ready for delivery by launch time. Problem is that between Canada and the US, 30,000 to 35,000 Civics are sold on an average month. Not good. This quite literally opens the door for many of Honda's competitors to swoop in and steal some of these new customers. Really not good.
This also poses a challenge to the marketing department as there is no point on preparing an ultra-aggressive ad campaign as cars will be scarce. What will they do?
Matt will try and get more information from Honda next week and report back to you.
Although the car is the headline, there is another ongoing situation that could possibly mar the arrival of the long-awaited car. Yes, the earthquake and subsequent tsunami and nuclear situation in Japan.
It has already forced every Japanese carmaker to make difficult decisions pertaining to plant slow downs or even temporary shut downs. Honda is in this precarious position.
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| Photo: Honda |
Luckily for it, most of the Hondas sold in North America are made in North America. That therefore means that unplugging assembly lines are unlikely however, every product made here still contains a large number of parts made there.
Production at its transplant assembly operations have been reduced but as stated, nothing has come to a screetching halt. Yet.
For Honda, struggling Honda actually, this could not come at a worse time. As you know and have read, the new 9th generation Civic is about to hit showrooms. If ever there was an important car for this brand, this is it.
Thankfully, production began back in January and, according to sources, 10,000 to 12,000 units should be ready for delivery by launch time. Problem is that between Canada and the US, 30,000 to 35,000 Civics are sold on an average month. Not good. This quite literally opens the door for many of Honda's competitors to swoop in and steal some of these new customers. Really not good.
This also poses a challenge to the marketing department as there is no point on preparing an ultra-aggressive ad campaign as cars will be scarce. What will they do?
Matt will try and get more information from Honda next week and report back to you.