Honda - Still Holding It’s Own

As I prepare to jet off to France for a week the world wide financial markets would appear to be in freefall. In fact I was wondering if there will be any financial institutions left by the time I return home. Lucky for us then that I had the foresight to stash all our money under the bed, actually that’s not strictly true as like most people we don’t actually have any money to stash! Despite all the turmoil in the financial world and the yo-yo effect of oil prices there are still companies that seem able to ride out a crisis and Honda would appear to be a good example of one.

Like a lot of successful Japanese companies Honda’s rise has been pretty meteoric considering that most of Japan’s manufacturing capability was decimated after the Second World War. In the relatively short period since the company was founded in 1948 by Soichiro Honda it has become a global giant and is now the largest engine manufacturer in the world. Apart from the obv ious car market Honda engines power anything from power boats to lawnmowers.

Honda is the fifth largest car maker in the world and has recently moved ahead of Chrysler in the US market to now rank as the fourth largest manufacturer in the US. Domestically Honda is ranked second behind Toyota but ahead of the likes of Nissan. Whilst many manufacturers are experiencing a decline in their sales Honda has actually seen their sales increase by a fairly significant margin.

Japanese motorcycles were largely blamed for the decline of the British motorcycle industry with Honda being at the forefront of this. Honda argued that it was actually the failure of British manufacturers and more importantly British management to reinvest profit for development and an inability to grasp the concept of economies of scale that caused the problem. Honda simply saw their opportunity and grabbed it.

This concept has worked well for the Honda manufacturing plant in Swindon UK which delivers good productivity results year on year and has demonstrated how Honda’s business principles can work wherever they are applied.

Honda’s current model range has been cleverly tailored to suit a number of markets from Sports with the S2000 at one end of the scale through to the clever petrol and electric powered Civic Hybrid. The latest CR-V is a departure from the traditional mud-plugging off-road vehicle that has come under a lot of scrutiny in recent times.

Gone is the enormous spare wheel on the rear door that used to require Olympian effort to open and close the thing. Also the rear door is now hinged at the top meaning that you don’t need loads of room behind you. Lack of ride quality has been another feature of off-roaders but Honda claim to have achieved saloon car handling with the CR-V. This is due to a lower centre of gravity and revised suspension geometry.

The FR-V is a clever family car that has thre e seats in the front and rear and a multitude of storage options. It has a dazzling array of the latest safety features and with its i- VTEC petrol or i-CDTi diesel engines it can offer better running costs than the traditional “family buses” that are due to be hit with punitive taxes in the UK in coming months.

The Honda Legend as its name suggests is a bit of a rarity in the UK executive market which is mainly dominated by German manufacturers but it is nonetheless an impressive piece of engineering. Honda’s biggest success certainly in the UK is still in the small car market where the Jazz and Civic are big sellers.

Despite the economic turmoil showing no sign of letting up Honda seem to be capable of continued success.

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Jon Barlow is cuurnelty enjoying wrting on behalf of Bristol Honda