Honda says Accord is America's best-selling car among actual consumers

Fri, 21 Feb 2014

The latest round of new vehicle registration data has been good for Honda - three of the Japanese brand's models are retail sales leaders and the Accord was the most registered car built in America in 2013, according to the data compiled by Polk. In fact, 360,089 units of the family sedan were purchased by individual consumers last year, an increase of 12.2 percent.

There was also good news from the Civic and CR-V camps, as those two models topped their respective segments in terms of retail (non-fleet) sales, with each notching over 300,000 registrations. Combined with the Accord, this trio of Hondas accounted for a whopping 1.11 million retail sales last year.

Honda spokesperson Sage Marie reflected on Polk's findings, telling Autoblog:

"Since it reflects actual consumer choice, it's a better measure of how competitive a product is in the marketplace. Honda's strategy of avoiding fleet sales bolsters residual values and reduces the cost of ownership for our customers."

Honda has long touted its avoidance of fleet sales in favor of individual retail sales, and in light of this latest news from Polk, the strategy appears to be working for the brand quite well.

U.S. Car Shoppers Propel Honda Accord to #1 in Retail Sales in 2013; Four Honda Models Take Best-in-Class Leadership based on Polk New-Vehicle Registrations

Honda Accord, Civic, CR-V and Odyssey each topped their segment in registrations to individual retail car buyers in 2013
Three Honda models recorded retail sales of more than 300,000 units
More Accords are built in the U.S. than any other car in 2013

The Honda Accord was the best-selling car with individual American car buyers in 2013 and was joined by three other Honda models – the Civic, CR-V, and Odyssey – as retail sales leaders in their respective segments in 2013, according to new-vehicle registration data compiled by Polk, which was recently acquired by IHS. The Accord, built in Marysville, Ohio1, was the No. 1 produced car in America in 2013.

Cumulatively, the Accord, Civic, CR-V and Odyssey posted retail sales of more than 1.11 million units in 2013, each earning the business of more than 300,000 individual American car buyers. Excluding full-size pickups, only one other model across the entire industry posted retail sales of more than 300,000 units in 2013.

"Our focus on retail sales to individual buyers has a direct correlation to the high resale value of Honda products, which is a key factor in the value proposition for our customers," said John Mendel, executive vice president of automobile sales for American Honda Motor Co., Inc. "We want to thank car buyers for making four Honda vehicles America's top choices, purchased one car at a time."

Additional highlights from the Polk /IHS Automotive data included:

Honda's 2013 retail sales rose 8.4 percent from year-ago totals to 1,332,576 Honda cars and light trucks
Individual sales to retail car buyers made up 98.1 percent of all American Honda sales in 2013, compared to an average of 81.7 percent for all other non-luxury vehicles
Accord retail sales in 2013 rose 12.2 percent to 360,089
In addition to being retail sales leaders, both the Civic and CR-V ranked as the overall best-selling models in their respective segments for the third consecutive year, and both saw retail sales and registrations jump 8.2 percent in 2013
The Odyssey also captured an impressive 32.2 percent of the U.S. retail registrations for minivans in 2013, selling nearly 25,000 more vehicles than the nearest competitor in the segment
Honda has been named the Most Trusted Brand by Kelley Blue Book for two consecutive years (2012 and 2013) and the Best Value Brand by Automotive Lease Guide for six years in a row (2008 through 2013), in part due to the consistently high resale value of its products.

About Honda
Honda offers a full line of reliable, fuel-efficient and fun-to-drive automobiles for American car buyers through approximately 1,000 independent U.S. Honda dealers. The Honda lineup includes the Accord, Crosstour, Civic, Fit, CR-Z, Insight and FCX Clarity passenger cars along with the Pilot, Odyssey and CR-V sport-utility vehicles, the Ridgeline pickup and the Odyssey minivan. Honda has the highest brand fuel economy2, the most top safety-rated3 vehicles and the longest-lasting cars4 of any mainstream automotive brand in America. Honda also has been producing automobiles in America for more than 30 years and currently operates 15 major manufacturing facilities in North America. In 2013, more than 94 percent of all Honda and Acura vehicles sold in U.S. were made in North America using domestic and globally sourced parts.

By Brandon Turkus