July 2017: American Honda Motor Co., Inc.

[William Maley]

Strong Sales of Core Models Drive American Honda July 2017 Auto Sales

Aug 1, 2017 - TORRANCE, Calif.

• Honda Civic sets new July record, gaining 11.3%
• Honda HR-V has hottest month on record as it jumps 32.3%
• Honda core products Accord, Civic and CR-V all top 30,000 in sales in July
• Acura Division rises 3.7% in July on gains from ILX and RDX
• Acura trucks set new July record, rising 11.3% percent
• Acura RDX sets new July mark with a strong 28.2% increase

American Honda Motor Co., Inc. today reported total July sales of 150,980 Honda and Acura vehicles, driven by the success of core models even as tight supplies of certain products contributed to a slight decrease of 1.2 percent vs. July 2016. Combined sales of Honda and Acura cars were up 1.9 percent on sales of 76,468, while combined trucks decreased 4.2 percent on sales of 74,512. Total Honda Division sales decreased 1.7 percent on sales of 136,803. Honda Division cars gained 2.8 percent with 72,557 vehicles sold in July, and Honda trucks were down 6.2 percent on sales of 64,246 units due mostly to limited inventory. Acura Division sales were up 3.7 percent in July on sales of 14,177 vehicles, with trucks rising 11.3 percent on sales of 10,266 for a new July record, and cars down by 12.2 percent on sales of 3,911 units.

Honda
Well-balanced sales of both cars and trucks were a familiar theme for the Honda Division in July. Despite tight supplies of Odyssey and certain CR-V, Pilot and Ridgeline models, Honda truck sales managed a solid showing against a record July 2016, with HR-V having its best month ever and CR-V surpassing 30,000 units for the month.  Civic and Accord continued to show strength with sales above 30,000 units, with the hot new Civic Type R and Si variants bringing renewed energy to the showroom, helping overall Civic sales to a new July record.

• HR-V set a new all-time monthly record, gaining 32.3 percent on sales of 9,779.
• Civic sales reached 36,683 for a new July record, rising 11.3 percent for the month.
• Accord continued to show strength in July, surpassing 30K sales for the month.

"Honda is the outlier in the industry in that we see solid demand for our products rather than demand for incentives to buy them," said Jeff Conrad, senior vice president of the Automobile Division of American Honda. "With models like Civic, Accord, CR-V, HR-V and Odyssey, each number one in their segments in retail sales for the first half of 2017, our position continues to get stronger."

Acura
Gateway models drove Acura's success in July, with RDX setting a new July mark to lift Acura trucks to a new record for the month, and ILX gaining 10 percent for the month as Acura's gateway sports sedan showed a second consecutive monthly increase.  TLX continued to sell well in July with the A-Spec model drawing showroom interest, but tight supplies due to strong sales the past two months limited total TLX sales in July.  

• Acura trucks set new July mark, gaining 11.3 percent on sales of 10,266 vehicles.
• RDX sales set a new July record with a 28.2 percent gain on sales of 5,539.
• ILX sales rose for the second straight month, up 10.1 percent in July on sales of 1,322 units.

"In the face of increased fleet sales in the luxury market we continue to focus on the growing momentum of the Acura brand with retail customers," said Jon Ikeda, vice president & general manager of the Acura division. "We're excited with the drawing power of our products and the sales success of our gateway models to millennial buyers shows that our product and marketing direction is beginning to pay dividends."