Tuesday: Not Civic Minded?

Looks like everyone is dumping on the new Civic and even Consumer Reports gave it the thumbs down ( http://www.consumerreports.org/). This is almost like saying Mom's apple pie sucks or an American admitting to not liking their flag. Yes, it is that bad! What did poor ol' Honda do (or not do) to deserve this. What in the world is going on?

In my opinion, Honda got complacent. They have lead the sales charts in Canada for many years and although threatened (the Mazda3), they haven't lost their crown. Until this year. Hyundai's new Elantra has gotten great reviews for its looks and quality feel. And I believe, has beaten the Civic sales every month so far in 2011.

2011 Elantra

I personally don't think that there is a bad angle on the Elantra. I know that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but my eyesight is pretty good.

As I said, I believe Honda got complacent. After a pretty swoopy last generation Civic, they must have gotten nervous and taken a page out of Toyota's very dull book. Read Consumer Reports and see that it is just not the Civic's styling. But if it was, look at what Honda has been selling overseas for the past few years........



This is their four door model. Actually pictures don't do it justice, as in real life it is a real head turner. And note that I said it has been on sale for a few years.

Most of the other manufacturers have also gotten their acts together and are putting out some dam good cars. For example, the Chevy Cruze and the 2012 Ford Focus. The former is just a very good car, but the latter is another head turner..........

2012 Focus sedan

Just goes to show you that these days, one can not just stand still. Things are moving quickly in this market segment, so to snooze is to lose.

Until next time........