American Honda Reports February 2018 Sales

SUVs and premium cars are leading the way for Honda and Acura.

American Honda Motor Co., Inc. reported February sales of 115,557 Honda and Acura vehicles, a decrease of 5 percent versus February 2017. Honda Division sales were down 5.6 percent on sales of 104,588, with Honda cars down 6.9 percent on sales of 50,646, and trucks down 4.4 percent on sales of 53,942 vehicles. Total Acura Division sales gained 1 percent in February with 10,969 units sold. Acura cars gained 17.4 percent on sales of 3,866, while trucks decreased 6.2 percent on sales of 7,103 vehicles for the month.

Henio Arcangeli Jr., senior vice president of the Automobile Division & general manager of the Honda brand, had this to say:

“As supplies of our light-truck offerings continue to grow, we’ve maintained a strong sales pace, notably with sharp increases to Pilot and HR-V. We’re selling every CR-V we can build and it continues to lead the segment in average transaction price, which demonstrates its true retail demand.”

Honda

Honda’s passenger cars are a mixed bag, matching trends seen across the industry. The new 2018 Accord performed admirably in a midsize segment that continues to trend downwards across the board for manufacturers. Civic sales were down slightly from 2017, with a 4.5% sales drop. Interestingly, the new Clarity saw an absolutely staggering sales increase: 4,470%, to be exact. The brand moved 27 units this time last year. For February, 2018, Honda shifted 1,234 of the Earth-friendly cars. Though, to be fair, this is mainly due to availability of the special model. The hybrid CR-Z has basically been all but forgotten, with Honda moving just nine (9) of the little hatchbacks this month.

Unsurprisingly, the Honda Insight, a car that has seen a temporary stop in production, had zero units sold in 2017, or in 2018. The new Insight concept is gorgeous, and we are eagerly awaiting that to arrive on U.S. shores for 2019.

Honda truck and SUV sales are reflecting American consumer preferences, with the larger models doing well. Pilot sales jumped nearly 50 percent, to 12,056, in the month of February. That means six straight months of back-to-back sales growth for Honda’s flagship SUV. CR-V tumbled a bit from this time last year, from 31,898 units sold to just 25,852. Though, that still almost to the digit ties Civic sales, so Honda shouldn’t be sweating it too much. Honda’s humble HR-V picked up in sales a touch from last year, with a 6.9% bump to 6,791 sold. Odyssey sales were likewise strong, with 7,034 units moved, despite the recent downward minivan trend in sales. Ridgeline sales dropped 32.3% from 2017, though this is to be expected from any model that was new for 2017.

In total, Honda sold 104,588 vehicles in the month of February, a 5.6% sales drop from February 2017.

Continue to the next page to read about Acura in the North American market.

Jacob Stumph

Jake Stumph is a lifelong car enthusiast and racer, who has operated as the content editor for Internet Brands Automotive since 2015. He runs Corvette Forum, 6SpeedOnline, Honda-tech, and LS1tech, among other Internet Brands Automotive websites. His work has been featured by several other prominent automotive outlets, including Jalopnik and Autobytel.

He obtained a bachelor's degree in Political Science at the Ohio State University in 2013, then pivoted from covering politics and policy to writing about his automotive adventures, something that, he says, is a lot more fun. Since that time, he has established connections with most of the world's major automakers, as well as other key brands in the automotive industry.

He enjoys track days, drifting, and autocross, at least, when his cars are running right, which is uncommon. You can check out what he's up to on his YouTube channel, as well as his Jake Stumph Racing Instagram account. He can be reached via email at stumph.jake@gmail.com