Suddenly Honda is a success — again. The 2008 Honda Civic became America's current best-selling vehicle in May, as some 53,299 examples hit the road in a single month. This is a new sales record for the Civic, almost 14,000 more cars per month than the previous record for the model that had been set just the year before.
When times are tough and gasoline prices rise, people come home to Honda. There's something unique about this company that seems to speak to Americans. As Toyota rose to its preeminent position in the last few years, there were those who despaired of Honda's future, as it seems so one-dimensional compared to diversified mega-corporations like Toyota. After all, Honda is just a simple little car company.
Yet now this simple little car company is promising the introduction of a new 50-mpg hybrid vehicle in 2009, one of four compact Honda hybrids that are expected to represent 500,000 sales a year by 2015. At the same time, it's developing a new front-engine NSX powered by a 550-horsepower V10 and featuring all-wheel drive. And Honda is equally capable of unexpected innovation, as with its unibody Ridgeline pickup truck, which more manufacturers are adopting as the template for fuel-efficient trucks in the future.
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