Honda Motor Co. said its sales [for March] were up 4 percent for the month, largely on the strength of the hybrid Honda Insight, which saw sales climb 41 percent.
That story was no longer at your link, but I just can't believe that a 41% increase in Insight sales is what is driving a 4% increase in honda sales overall.
"Toyota reports its highest ever monthly sales for March
DETROIT -- The U.S. auto industry's slump hit GM hard in March, when the struggling automaker's sales fell almost 15 percent while rival Toyota reported its highest ever monthly sales yet.
The sales report was more bad news for General Motors Corp., which lost $10.6 billion in 2005. GM car sales dropped 22 percent as the automaker eased off on sales to rental fleets, while truck and SUV sales were down 9 percent.
Sales at Toyota rose 7 percent for the month, led by a 15 percent increase in truck and sport utility vehicle sales.
Honda Motor Co. said its sales were up 4 percent for the month, largely on the strength of the hybrid Honda Insight, which saw sales climb 41 percent.
Ford said its sales fell 5 percent in March, largely because of waning interest in its SUVs."
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Kip Munro
The laws of physics don't need changing, but rather our attitude and values. 72.8 LMPG
Sales in April also make gloomy reading for US auto makers. This from the BBC News website today:
The news came as Toyota posted a 9% rise in US sales in April.
This was the month's highest gain, and compared with a 6.5% rise at Honda - and yet more declines at the big three US car firms.
April sales at General Motors dipped 7%, while those at Chrysler dropped 4%, and Ford's declined 3%.
Overall US car sales in April were down 3% to 16.7 million vehicles.
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2005 Insight, UK Spec Silver 5 speed with Alpine stereo, subwoofer & speakers with iPod link, IMA C&C, Shark Fin Aerial, Garmin EcoRoute HD, Skinz sound deadened rear shelf, 'InsightCentral' number plates, 19" rear wiper, Osram nightbreaker plus bulbs
Previous owner of 1999 Japanese Silver 5sp, 2001 UK Citrus 5sp & 2000 Japanese Red CVT Honda Insight - An extraordinary car for ordinary people
Other reports say Honda's sales increase was because of the Ridgeline...
well, between the ridgeline (turck of the year), civic (car or the year), and the insight with gas on the rise again........ honda better increase sales
OK, I finally found it. Nice of them to put Honda stats under a Toyota headline.
Anyway, it's BS. This page: http://www.hondabeat.com/sales_stats.xls has an excel spreadsheet that shows Honda sold 79 Insights in March (which sounds perfectly reasonable).
Honda sold 59,178 cars and 52,104 trucks in March 2006. Kid yourself all you want, but the Insight makes up .07 percent, or one out of every 1408 Hondas sold in March.
Yup, looks like the Insight is not going to lead Honda sales for a little while yet.
Sales were up again in April though. This from GCC.
"Sales of the Honda Civic Hybrid stayed over the 3,000 mark, with 3,087 sold—up 38% from March, although down 10.9% from April 2005. The Accord Hybrid came in with 614 units sold—up 5.7% from March, but down 69.6% from April 2005. The Insight broke into triple-digits with 110 units sold."
Thanks for the permission. With Insight sales rising at 41% per month, after a year they'll be selling 6700/month, more than Civic and Accord hybrids combined. After another year, they'll be selling 300,000 per month, tripling Honda's sales from today's rates. Aluminum prices will skyrocket, as will the value of original, pre-2006 Insights, which will be much sought-after collectors items, selling for $500k to $1M.
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March Honda sales +4 % due to Insight +41%
