My Fit was built today! (Early April delivery to South Florida)
#22
Honda and its dealers can still make money on the Fit since the initial tooling costs have probably been paid off by now. Knowing this, a closer look at the particularities of the NA market warrants closer examination.
One should ask: Why did Honda deem it necessary to sell such a vehicle in NA in the first place? The answers may be a combination of:
1- A reply to any existing or forthcoming competitors that
offer/will be offering relatively inexpensive hatchbacks.
2- A logical repositioning of its model range in response to
changing demographics, long-term gas price projections,
and existing customer base retention.
There might be other reasons that elude me at this time. Honda can use a model which is relatively inexpensive to produce in relation to its other NA model offerings in order to "test the waters". It can initially be priced as a loss leader (let's say...the base model) with the potential of satisfyingly padding their dealers' profits when consumers opt for the Sport model. The spread between a base Fit and a base Civic should not exceed $1500 to $2000 cdn. Anything more could very well turn out to be a catalyst for cannibalizing sales of the Civic vs. the Fit due to the Fit's high level of std content.
One should ask: Why did Honda deem it necessary to sell such a vehicle in NA in the first place? The answers may be a combination of:
1- A reply to any existing or forthcoming competitors that
offer/will be offering relatively inexpensive hatchbacks.
2- A logical repositioning of its model range in response to
changing demographics, long-term gas price projections,
and existing customer base retention.
There might be other reasons that elude me at this time. Honda can use a model which is relatively inexpensive to produce in relation to its other NA model offerings in order to "test the waters". It can initially be priced as a loss leader (let's say...the base model) with the potential of satisfyingly padding their dealers' profits when consumers opt for the Sport model. The spread between a base Fit and a base Civic should not exceed $1500 to $2000 cdn. Anything more could very well turn out to be a catalyst for cannibalizing sales of the Civic vs. the Fit due to the Fit's high level of std content.
#23
On a random note, just went to Cars Direct, and wow! Cool site!
Still gave me a too-high price on an '06 TR WRX though, it said that like $23,160 was a "target price", whereas I know that I could walk into a local dealership and get one for like $22.3k (MSRP is $24k)
Still gave me a too-high price on an '06 TR WRX though, it said that like $23,160 was a "target price", whereas I know that I could walk into a local dealership and get one for like $22.3k (MSRP is $24k)
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
Winston O'Boogie, MD
Honda Fit Dealer Reviews
1
09-28-2008 12:21 PM