Acura Dropping Model Due To Slow Sales

[range]

The results reflected in those "tiny bubbles" are more thorough and indepth than those posted by JD Powers. Each dot represents a certain percentage of owners who reported a problem in a particular area. You can access the Consumer Reports survey online to see the questions that owners must answer. It's all very straightforward.

 

Considering that Lincoln and Mercury buyers tend to be Lawrence Welk fans who are lucky to hit 65 mph, it's highly doubtful that they push their cars all that much. Plus, the two of the most popular models from those brands are based on 25-year-old platforms and powered by engines that debuted almost 15 years ago. These models SHOULD have the bugs worked out from them by now. Under those conditions, I'd hope that Lincoln and Mercury would score well.

 

Incidentally, there was a recent post on Joe Sherlock's Through the Windshield blog. He asked a GM engineer - off the record - which reliability survey results the company REALLY considered to be more valid. The answer? The one conducted by Consumer Reports.

 

So now who's less sophisticated...?

 

 

Hey grbeck, you say JDPower is not valid?

 

Better read what HONDA EXECUTIVES have to say about that, and what HONDA EXECUTIVES have to say about HONDA and ACURA QUALITY PROBLEMS and their DECLINING QUALITY STANDINGS.

 

 

Honda Determined to Further Improve Quality, IC Engines

By Roger Schreffler

WardsAuto.com, May 4, 2006 9:49 AM

 

TOKYO – One couldn’t tell from Honda Motor Co. Ltd.’s financial results – on track for a sixth consecutive record profit this year – that there is a growing sense of uneasiness within the auto maker’s management ranks.

 

The problem, an awkward one for a company seen by many as Toyota Motor Corp.’s most formidable competitor in mass-market segments: quality.

 

Since climbing to the No.3 spot in the J.D. Power and Associates Initial Quality Study (IQS) in 1997, Honda has scored only once in the top five (fourth in 2004) while falling out of the top 10 in three of the past five years

 

And Honda’s upscale Acura division, which topped all nameplates in J.D. Power’s IQS study as recently as 2000, has fared even worse, dropping to 15th in 2004 and 2005, below Hyundai Motor Co. Ltd., General Motors Corp.’s Buick and GMC divisions and all leading luxury brands.

 

Tokyo analyst Koji Endo attributes Honda’s quality problems to the launch of its light-truck platform five years ago on which the Pilot, MDX, Ridgeline and Odyssey minivan (U.S. version) are built.

 

“This is a new type of vehicle for Honda, thus the quality problems,†says Endo, who is director of research at Credit Suisse First Boston Securities (Japan) Ltd.

 

Small consolation, considering Honda has built an iron-clad reputation for quality and reliability in 130-plus countries, but particularly in the U.S, where the brand has been a darling of the market ever since baby boomers embraced Honda in the 1980s.

 

Honda management is concerned, no one more so than Motoatsu Shiraishi, president of Honda R&D Co.

 

Honda’s former head of manufacturing, who put in place the auto maker’s global plant structure at the start of the decade, admits quality is not satisfactory.

 

“Of course we are concerned,†he says in a wide-ranging interview with Ward’s at Honda’s Tokyo headquarters. “Our competition is getting better. Irrespective of that, we must re-establish ourselves in the top tier. It is an absolute priority.â€

 

Shiraishi, 59, took over as head of Honda’s 10,000-person research company in early 2005 in a move that surprised observers because his background is not in engine or chassis engineering – or even racing. One reason, he suspects, is to enhance communication between the auto maker’s product-development and manufacturing arms.

 

Honda, like other global vehicle manufacturers, is struggling to strike a balance between the twin pressures of reducing lead time from final design to production and developing more region- or country-specific features within each model line.

 

To this end, Honda R&D, now in its 41st year and with key operations in the U.S., Europe and Asia, initiated a major reorganization in April centered on products and functions. Primary divisions now are for automobiles, motorcycles, power products, aircraft engines and basic technology. Each of the five new development centers will have separate offices for planning, product development and administration.

 

The automobile center will be divided into two areas, Honda and Acura, reflecting a new emphasis to develop more distinct engineering and branding for Acura.

 

Through the restructuring, Honda hopes to flatten the organization, enabling it to make decisions more quickly and ultimately get more bang for its Y510 billion ($4.3 billion) annual R&D investment.

 

more at link . . . http://subscribers.wardsauto.com/ar/...mined_quality/

[marc-o]

Wow range you have no idea what you are talking about.

 

You just mish mash together facts into whatever you want to create. You just dont get it. You're comparing cars not even sold in the US and saying they are re-badges of US models. DUH!!! They are sold under different badges.

 

Acura will be brought to Japan in 2008, and the "RL" has already been on sale there since 1 year before it came out as an Acura in the US...because since before Acura even started in the US it's been known as a Honda Legend in Japan. No one is contesting selling cars under different badges in different markets, that's completely different than the badge engineering which is what was brought up.

 

Your arguments make no sense because you're piecing together facts that aren't related. I've explained that before, so has bec5150, so has grbeck, so has niteflight, so have others. Yet you continue. Discussing (arguing) with you makes no sense, because your arguments are ignorant... and when exposed, you refuse to address the points brought up, you just lay on some more.

 

There is a big difference between the Honda Legend and Acura RL though, I bet a smart guy like you could figure it out :cheerleader:

[bec5150]

Wow range you have no idea what you are talking about.

 

You just mish mash together facts into whatever you want to create. You just dont get it. You're comparing cars not even sold in the US and saying they are re-badges of US models. DUH!!! They are sold under different badges.

 

Acura will be brought to Japan in 2008, and the "RL" has already been on sale there since 1 year before it came out as an Acura in the US...because since before Acura even started in the US it's been known as a Honda Legend in Japan. No one is contesting selling cars under different badges in different markets, that's completely different than the badge engineering which is what was brought up.

 

Your arguments make no sense because you're piecing together facts that aren't related. I've explained that before, so has bec5150, so has grbeck, so has niteflight, so have others. Yet you continue. Discussing (arguing) with you makes no sense, because your arguments are ignorant... and when exposed, you refuse to address the points brought up, you just lay on some more.

 

There is a big difference between the Honda Legend and Acura RL though, I bet a smart guy like you could figure it out :cheerleader:

There is a name for folks like Mr. Range.

 

TROLL!!!!!!!