Honda goes into PR overdrive

Jerry Chenkin, executive vice-president, Honda Canada

'We have not done a good enough job telling people that we manufacture 400,000 vehicles a year in Alliston'

Honda has had a great run in Canada for 40 years with steady growth and conservative management. But this year, facing collapsing sales in the industry downturn, Honda is becoming much more aggressive with both products and propaganda.

The company began selling motorcycles in Canada in 1969 and four years later started selling cars. In 1986, Honda became the first Japanese company to build cars here with the opening of the plant in Alliston, Ont. The following year, Acura was launched in Canada as the first Japanese luxury brand. A second assembly plant opened in 1998 and, 10 years later, Honda opened a third plant to build four-cylinder engines.

Over all, Honda has sold more than 3.2 million automobiles and trucks in Canada while building more than five million.

But with sales off about 20 per cent this year, production at one of the Alliston plants has been cut back to one shift. Plant One, which builds the Civic, is doing fine at full capacity producing 800 vehicles per day. Plant Two, however, which builds Acuras, is only cranking out 400 vehicles a day.

Canadian jobs depend on Honda making Acura much more successful - Acura has always lagged well behind Toyota's Lexus line. In September, Acura only sold 1,127 cars in Canada, a decrease of 45 per cent from September, 2008.

To get some traffic through the showrooms, the Acura ZDX - engineered in Ohio, styled in California and manufactured in Ontario - will arrive at the end of the year as a "four-door sports coupe." It has a muscular profile and an all-glass roof. It's very distinctive front grille was described by one dubious fellow as a cheese grater.

Laid-off auto workers are hoping that the new Acura ZDX crossover will be a hit because the Alliston plant will be the only plant producing them.

Jerry Chenkin is executive vice-president of Honda Canada.

Vaughan: What's the idea behind the built-only-in-Canada ZDX?

Chenkin: I think this vehicle was designed for two specific reasons.

The first one was to raise Acura's brand image and style to a new level.

And second, we have a lot of MDX customers who are now looking for the next vehicle to drive.

They are empty nesters who are looking for a vehicle that really supports their new lifestyle.

We're very confident we're going to be able to sell this vehicle to those people.

Okay, back to reason number one, which is raising Acura's brand image. You've certainly gone with a radical-looking design to try to do this.

I think it's a gorgeous-looking vehicle. It was designed to raise Acura's image to a new level.
So what's the hope for Acura? What would you like the brand to be? In the last 20 years it has muddled along but it's never had a big breakthrough.

Acura was designed to be a luxury brand.
We have aspired to be a tier one luxury brand with the other traditional luxury brands.
Yes, I know, but Acura's been perceived to be a gussied-up Honda Accord or a gussied-up Civic.
I think originally that may have been the case.

But today you're looking at a vehicle like the ZDX, which doesn't share any components or any styling with Honda at all.

Acura is now establishing its own brand image in the marketplace.

You're telling me this is a statement vehicle and it certainly is. But you're going to sell less than 10,000 of these things worldwide per year. I don't understand the economics of developing a new car for such low volumes even if it is a statement car.

Luxury vehicles should never be sold in large volume.

I think part of the appeal is the fact that only a few people can actually aspire to purchase one of these vehicles.

Honda has built five million cars in Canada, but you never talk about it. Toyota is always saying how Canadian they are because of all the cars they build here.
I think you're right.

We have not done a good enough job telling people that we manufacture 400,000 vehicles a year in Alliston and the fact that almost half of the vehicles Acura sells in Canada are actually built in Canada.

Honda to me always seems so secretive.

We will be doing more communicating in the future.

But we've always held the philosophy that it doesn't matter where your Honda or Acura is built, you're going to get the same quality.

But we're really proud of the fact that we're building these vehicles in Canada and employing almost 5,000 Canadians.

Source;
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/auto/honda-goes-into-pr-overdrive/article1324283/