mikeyb
08-15-2005, 12:47 PM
<TABLE class=ImageBox><TBODY><TR><TD>http://www.autoweek.com/images/news/102978
</TD></TR><TR><TD class=Caption>Honda expects the Fit to appeal to a broad group of customers.</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Honda pegs U.S. sales goal for Scion fighter at 60,000; Fit to be positioned below new Civic
YUZO YAMAGUCHI | Automotive News
Posted Date: 8/15/05
TOKYO -- Honda Motor Co. wants to sell about 60,000 Fit economy cars a year in the United States.
"We've got to sell about that number," says Koichi Kondo, CEO of American Honda Motor Co. Inc., who revealed the unofficial sales goal. The Fit is scheduled to go on sale in the United States next spring or summer.
Kondo expects the Fit to appeal to a broad group of customers, including young people and families "who couldn't afford the Civic."
When it goes on sale this fall, the redesigned 2006 Honda Civic will be sportier and more powerful, leaving room for the Fit below it.
Honda has not released prices for the redesigned Civic. The 2005 model starts at $13,810, including shipping.
The Fit will compete with Toyota Motor Corp.'s successful Scion youth brand. At 60,000 a year, Fit sales would be on par with U.S. sales of Scion's two best sellers, the tC and xB. Through seven months of this year, Scion sold 31,964 xBs and 42,767 tCs.
The xB starts at $14,195, including shipping.
Honda's plant in Suzuka, Japan, assembled 249,818 Fits in 2004 for sale in Japan, Europe and Asia. The car is called the Jazz in Europe. The Fit would help Honda achieve its ambitious goal: 4.0 million sales worldwide in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2008. That's up from 3.4 million planned for this fiscal year.
source:http://www.autoweek.com/news.cms?newsId=102978
</TD></TR><TR><TD class=Caption>Honda expects the Fit to appeal to a broad group of customers.</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Honda pegs U.S. sales goal for Scion fighter at 60,000; Fit to be positioned below new Civic
YUZO YAMAGUCHI | Automotive News
Posted Date: 8/15/05
TOKYO -- Honda Motor Co. wants to sell about 60,000 Fit economy cars a year in the United States.
"We've got to sell about that number," says Koichi Kondo, CEO of American Honda Motor Co. Inc., who revealed the unofficial sales goal. The Fit is scheduled to go on sale in the United States next spring or summer.
Kondo expects the Fit to appeal to a broad group of customers, including young people and families "who couldn't afford the Civic."
When it goes on sale this fall, the redesigned 2006 Honda Civic will be sportier and more powerful, leaving room for the Fit below it.
Honda has not released prices for the redesigned Civic. The 2005 model starts at $13,810, including shipping.
The Fit will compete with Toyota Motor Corp.'s successful Scion youth brand. At 60,000 a year, Fit sales would be on par with U.S. sales of Scion's two best sellers, the tC and xB. Through seven months of this year, Scion sold 31,964 xBs and 42,767 tCs.
The xB starts at $14,195, including shipping.
Honda's plant in Suzuka, Japan, assembled 249,818 Fits in 2004 for sale in Japan, Europe and Asia. The car is called the Jazz in Europe. The Fit would help Honda achieve its ambitious goal: 4.0 million sales worldwide in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2008. That's up from 3.4 million planned for this fiscal year.
source:http://www.autoweek.com/news.cms?newsId=102978