Merc1
Premium
A very good article on Honda and their Acura luxury brand in the U.S. market. BMW is also mentioned. Some interesting tidbits:
H onda Motor Co.'s Asimo is no ordinary robot. With its latest upgrade, the 4-foot Asimo, who occasionally greets visitors in English and Japanese at Honda's Tokyo headquarters, can calculate how fast people are walking and keep pace with them.
The same ingenuity and engineering skill that produced Asimo have pushed Honda to the forefront in developing futuristic fuel-cell cars. As volatile gas prices are shifting U.S. consumers' interest to more fuel-efficient models, Honda is the only automaker with a fuel-cell car certified for U.S. retail buyers, and it has leased two hydrogen-powered FCX cars to customers to monitor their performance under real-life conditions.
Honda fast facts
North American headquarters: Torrance, Calif.
No. of plants in North America: 12, with 9 in the U.S., including 3 vehicle assembly plants, an engine factory and 2 transmission plants. A fourth U.S. vehicle assembly plant is expected to open in 2008.
No. of workers in North America: 27,000, including about 21,700 hourly workers and 5,300 salaried employees
No. of dealers in North America: 1,286, including 1,018 Honda stores and 268 Acura retailers
Top-selling models in U.S.: Accord sedan, Civic small car, CR-V small SUV, Odyssey minivan, Pilot SUV
2006 U.S. vehicle sales: 1.5 million
2006 U.S. vehicle production: 974,380
It seems natural to lump Toyota and Honda together. But while they share many similarities, there are striking differences. Toyota is a powerful, process-driven company whose production system has become the template for manufacturers the world over.
"Toyota is more aggressive than Honda is," said Jeffrey Scharf of Scharf Investments, a Santa Cruz, Calif.-based investment firm that holds Honda and Toyota shares.
"I think it's a management difference."
While some Toyota executives say they don't care if the automaker is ranked No. 1 or No. 2, the company does seem driven by growth. Last December, Toyota said it expected to sell 9.34 million vehicles in 2007 -- more than any automaker has ever sold in a year.
The company has always been run by engineers, like Fukui, who design all sorts of things with motors. In addition to cars, Honda's product range includes motorcycles, lawn mowers, robots and now jets.
Executives at other automakers say it's clear what the company stands for.
"In all fields, from grass-cutting to auxiliary power units, the core competence of Honda is engines," said Michael Ganal, board member and sales director of BMW AG.
Toyota's scale gives it another big advantage over Honda in the race to develop new technologies. It is turning out to be a very costly contest because automakers are pursuing several different avenues, ranging from ethanol-powered vehicles to clean diesels and various types of hybrids.
Over the years, Honda executives have repeatedly ruled out mergers, disappointing investors who fantasize about a BMW-Honda pairing.
Full Article:
http://www.detroitnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070309/AUTO01/703090400/1148
M
H onda Motor Co.'s Asimo is no ordinary robot. With its latest upgrade, the 4-foot Asimo, who occasionally greets visitors in English and Japanese at Honda's Tokyo headquarters, can calculate how fast people are walking and keep pace with them.
The same ingenuity and engineering skill that produced Asimo have pushed Honda to the forefront in developing futuristic fuel-cell cars. As volatile gas prices are shifting U.S. consumers' interest to more fuel-efficient models, Honda is the only automaker with a fuel-cell car certified for U.S. retail buyers, and it has leased two hydrogen-powered FCX cars to customers to monitor their performance under real-life conditions.
Honda fast facts
North American headquarters: Torrance, Calif.
No. of plants in North America: 12, with 9 in the U.S., including 3 vehicle assembly plants, an engine factory and 2 transmission plants. A fourth U.S. vehicle assembly plant is expected to open in 2008.
No. of workers in North America: 27,000, including about 21,700 hourly workers and 5,300 salaried employees
No. of dealers in North America: 1,286, including 1,018 Honda stores and 268 Acura retailers
Top-selling models in U.S.: Accord sedan, Civic small car, CR-V small SUV, Odyssey minivan, Pilot SUV
2006 U.S. vehicle sales: 1.5 million
2006 U.S. vehicle production: 974,380
It seems natural to lump Toyota and Honda together. But while they share many similarities, there are striking differences. Toyota is a powerful, process-driven company whose production system has become the template for manufacturers the world over.
"Toyota is more aggressive than Honda is," said Jeffrey Scharf of Scharf Investments, a Santa Cruz, Calif.-based investment firm that holds Honda and Toyota shares.
"I think it's a management difference."
While some Toyota executives say they don't care if the automaker is ranked No. 1 or No. 2, the company does seem driven by growth. Last December, Toyota said it expected to sell 9.34 million vehicles in 2007 -- more than any automaker has ever sold in a year.
The company has always been run by engineers, like Fukui, who design all sorts of things with motors. In addition to cars, Honda's product range includes motorcycles, lawn mowers, robots and now jets.
Executives at other automakers say it's clear what the company stands for.
"In all fields, from grass-cutting to auxiliary power units, the core competence of Honda is engines," said Michael Ganal, board member and sales director of BMW AG.
Toyota's scale gives it another big advantage over Honda in the race to develop new technologies. It is turning out to be a very costly contest because automakers are pursuing several different avenues, ranging from ethanol-powered vehicles to clean diesels and various types of hybrids.
Over the years, Honda executives have repeatedly ruled out mergers, disappointing investors who fantasize about a BMW-Honda pairing.
Full Article:
http://www.detroitnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070309/AUTO01/703090400/1148
M
