2013 Honda Civic Minor Model Change Update

If you have wanted to take a look at the all new Honda Civic, then may be your wait could be over sometime soon.

The car maker Honda, have the first refresh model of Honda Civic ready for release. This is believed to help the automaker to kick start the sales process for the all new model.

According to the Associated Press, the company has been trying to get a new face for the 2012 Honda Civic ever since it started its sale in 2011. The reasons for the same have been the drivability of and quality of the car in all respects. Usually, it is not common to see a revamp of car model in less than three years of its first release.

Sources say that this move by Honda is a clever one. The company does not want research and development to render waste, which would otherwise drop the overall sales of the automobile manufacturer.

However, if you take a close look most critics speculate that the car would not be very technically different. The drivetrain and suspension would possibly be heightened in terms of quality to give a better driving familiarity. Also the interiors could be classier and sophisticated. This could be a change in embellishments and fixtures. There is an expected upward trend for these changes.

In the recent past, natural disasters such as the earthquake and tsunami in Japan in March 2011 and floods in Thailand in October 2011, have hit the automobile maker quite a bit. This is believed to cause an inventory dearth for the company. Subsequently, the United States experienced a drop in the sales of Honda Civic by almost 13 percent in this fiscal year as reported by research companies.

Some quick reviewers claim that the new 2012 Civic might not be able to compete with its competitors in the same domain. All new 2012 Honda Civic begins its sales at USD 15,805. Reviewers and critics uphold potential with the new Civic. The expectations with the gem automobile are high. And critics are wondering how the car would perform after the revamp. Is the new Honda Civic 2012 going to do the magic?

Source;
http://www.auto-types.com/autonews/honda-civic-2012-refresh-sooner-than-soon-8133.html

Updated 2013 Honda Civic Coming Late Next Year, Company Says it Expects to Improve Sales

With less than two weeks to go before the year’s end, we can safely say that one of the biggest disappointments of 2011 was the ninth generation of Honda’s U.S.-market Civic. Launched in April as a 2012 year model, the new Civic was criticized for its drop in quality and was even removed from Consumer Reports’ “Recommended” list.

Honda Motor CEO Takanobu Ito took personal responsibility for the new Civic's poor performance. And now, the company's executives confirm earlier reports that Honda is rushing back to the drawing board much earlier than originally anticipated.

Honda U.S. executive vice president of sales John Mendel may claim that “building a good car isn’t good enough for us, we have to build a great car”, but we suspect that the 13 percent drop in sales to 200,690 units in 2011, is probably the reason why the Civic is getting ready for a redesign only a year after launch.

Tetsuo Iwamura, Honda’s top North American executive, told Bloomberg News that the 2013MY Civic will go on sale by late next year and that it will be “upgraded”. That was to be expected, as the Civic is Honda’s second best-selling car in the U.S. after the Accord.

Iwamura admitted that “the gap between the Civic and the competitors has been narrowed”, adding that “we have to make it wider”. Thus, he revealed that the Japanese carmaker will improve the styling, driving dynamics and comfort of the 2013 MY Civic.

The performance of such a critical model only added insult to injury for Honda, as the March earthquake that hit Japan seriously diminished its inventory and resulted in a 5.3 percent drop in the company's U.S. sales through November.

Despite this year’s performance, Japan’s third biggest carmaker has set quite a high target for next year: it wants its U.S. sales to increase from about 1 million units in 2011 to 1.25 million, and its luxury brand Acura to improve its record even more, from 126,000 to 180,000 deliveries.

“It looks like quite a high jump, but because of the availability problem we had a really low year in 2011”, Iwamura told Bloomberg. “That is the reason why growth looks huge, but for us, it’s a natural growth.”

Source;
http://www.carscoop.blogspot.com/2011/12/updated-2013-honda-civic-coming-late.html

Honda: Let's try that again

HONDA is working flat-out on improvements to its all-new Civic after a lacklustre start to the car's life.
The latest model of the Japanese compact has been criticised for its lack of innovation and quality. For the first time, it has been struck from the list of recommended models in the influential Consumer Guide in the US.
The new Civic sedan arrives here towards the middle of next year, with the five-door hatch to follow, as global head of Honda, Takanobu Ito, promises significant upgrades to counter the criticism.
"We will continue to make improvements on a daily basis," Ito says.
He takes responsibility for the car's shortcomings and admits Honda underestimated its opposition, as well as the level of improvement needed over the outgoing model.
"I believe that the ultimate responsibility for the Civic rests with me," Ito says.
"Right now we are trying to work out the best actions possible in response.
"We might have underestimated the competition to a certain extent."In Honda's defence, Ito says he believes the previous-generation Civic was well ahead of its rivals and that might have led to decisions that did not push hard enough on the new car.
"The previous Civic was something of a major surprise to the world, it was extremely advanced, and therefore the concept for this current Civic was trying to carry over the concept.
"We look at the history of the Civic model. We are constantly aiming towards more advanced features and carrying out development of the new Civic."
He admits Honda has been stung by the poor reception for the car.
"In this situation it is true that we lacked the capability to understand beforehand that such reactions might have come about. We should have studied these things more carefully."
He believes Honda's effort with the previous Civic also spurred rivals to develop the cars that are now making things tough for the maker and the model.

Source;
http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/ipad/honda-lets-try-that-again/story-fn9y0ah4-1226217398926

Honda rushes Civic refresh in wake of criticism

By: Mark Rechtin, Automotive News on 10/31/2011
Because of the chilly reception this year for its redesigned 2012 Civic, which was universally panned for its cheap, hard-plastic instrument panel and center console, Honda is moving more quickly than planned on some mid-cycle changes.

"We take feedback seriously, regardless of who it's from, and we will act accordingly quickly," John Mendel, American Honda executive vice president, said in an interview.

The mid-cycle update normally would occur in spring 2014. But Mendel said the change could occur sometime in 2013.

Honda was in the midst of redesigning the Civic when the global economy imploded in 2009. Honda Motor Co. CEO Takanobu Ito stopped the redesign in its tracks, approved shortening the wheelbase and reducing content to appeal to budget-conscious consumers.

Reviewers chastised Honda for its penny-pinching ways after it debuted in April. Consumer Reports removed the Civic from its "recommended" list for the first time in memory, calling it "cheap" and "insubstantial." A recent Wall Street Journal review called it "a betrayal."

For the car that leads the compact segment in retail sales--and is Honda's bread and butter--those words are damning when competitive entries from Ford, Hyundai and Chevrolet have shown major improvement.

"I don't know how much we can do, and how quickly," said Mendel at the media launch of the redesigned 2012 CR-V crossover. "But the comments of Consumer Reports and our customers have not gone unnoticed. We are appropriately energized."

The launch was severely disrupted by the Japan earthquake on March 11. Dealers held blowout sales of the outgoing Civic in March and April but allocations were slow in coming.

Still, the Civic was the most shopped nameplate in June, in the thick of the car's marketing launch, according to the consulting firm Compete Automotive. But the spike was surprisingly short-lived, and shopper volume declined quickly--"atypical for Honda in particular," the Compete report said.

The downgrade by Consumer Reports likely played a role in the diminished interest, Compete said.

Source;
http://www.autoweek.com/article/20111031/CARNEWS/111039993#ixzz1cMnFOVjp

Temple of Vtec Rumour: New Civic to get a 'Refresh' for 2013?!?

Yesterday we received a bit of news that came as a little bit of a surprise. According to a source (who has been reliable in the past), Honda hosted a "Grassroots" meeting for West Coast Honda dealers yesterday. During this meeting, the dealers are said to have shared some of their comments and concerns about the 2012 Civic, and reportedly Honda's response was that a "very refreshed, and more aggressively styled Civic" would make its debut in December 2012, as a 2013 model.

We tried reaching out to some of the contacts we have in other regions to see if they had heard anything similar. The one that I heard back from indicated that they had not heard this information, but they had heard a few months back that there would be some tweaks to the '12 Civics (improved wheels/tires on the Civic LX, possibly some upgraded interior materials) and the car would be "relaunched" sometime in the near term.

Suffice it to say, we will be tracking this one.

Source;
http://www.vtec.net/news/news-item?news_item_id=1007927