Honda Considering Faster Model Updates To Beat Competition
The new car market is starting to get just a little overcrowded with quality vehicles, and in a time where customers all around the world are cutting back on their spending, things like performance, fuel-economy and overall value is now more important than ever.
Today, it’s hard to find a truly bad car and differentiating between brands, especially in the affordable car segments, is becoming more and more difficult for consumers with every new model roll out.
Honda concedes that this is a major problem and is considering speeding up planned model updates. Honda exec John Mendel said his company plans to beat the competition with new technology and by introducing models in new market sectors, but admits that there will likely have to be more model updates in order to improve quality, reliability and fuel economy.
"We don't have the gap that we had years ago," he revealed at a press event last week in Detroit. "There's nobody out there building junk any more."
For example, Honda has always had a reputation for good quality and fuel efficient cars but today many of its rivals are doing better. Take the Accord sedan, for example. The car is Honda’s top-selling model in the U.S. but Toyota, Nissan, Ford and General Motors all have similar models that are more fuel efficient on the highway.
[Drive]
This story originally appeared at The Car Connection
Fisker Chooses 27 Experienced Retailers For 2009 Karma Sedan
On the heels of the Tesla Model S sedan unveil yesterday, competitor Fisker Automotive announced today that it's hand picked 27 retailers to sell the 2009 Fisker Karma. The vehicle is still slated for showrooms later this year and is a plug-in hybrid that can travel up to 50 miles on electric power alone after which time a General Motors turbocharged four (Pontiac Solstice GXP, Saturn Sky Red Line, Chevrolet Cobalt SS) turns a generator to replenish the sport sedan's lithium-ion battery pack.
Two of the dealers, John Bergstrom and Ron Tonkin, are prominent automotive dealers. The former has won the Time Magazine Quality Dealer Award, the latter is a past president of the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA). Russell Datz of Fisker Automotive explains that all 27 dealers were carefully chosen because of their experience with premium brand sales, ability to handle new technology, and tendency to draw a discerning clientele.
The retailers stretch across the U.S. and into Canada. Retailers like California dealer Tom Price, who will sell the Fisker at three of his dealerships, are banking on the popularity of hybrids and green technology in that progressive state.
[source: Automotive News]
This story originally appeared at The Car Connection
