- Sales of the 2012 Honda Civic appear to be stalled, with the Japanese automaker reporting that October sales of the Civic were down 2 percent.
- Honda says it's because dealer inventory is "virtually zero" due to natural disasters in Asia, including the Japan earthquake and tsunami in March and recent flooding in Thailand.
- "Dealers can't sell cars that they don't have on their lots," a Honda spokeswoman told Inside Line on Thursday.
TORRANCE, California — Sales of the 2012 Honda Civic appear to be stalled, with the Japanese automaker reporting this week that October sales of the Civic were down 2 percent.
Honda tells Inside Line that it's not because the redesigned small car, which debuted with much hoopla at the 2011 New York Auto Show, is not resonating with buyers or needs better direction with advertising or social media efforts. The Japanese automaker says it's because dealer inventory is "virtually zero" due to natural disasters in Asia, including the Japan earthquake and tsunami in March and recent flooding in Thailand.
"Dealers can't sell cars that they don't have on their lots," said Gina Jorge, assistant manager for American Honda Motor Co. public relations in response to an e-mailed query from Inside Line on Thursday. "In fact, most dealers are selling Civics nearly as fast as they receive them."
On November 1 Honda said Civic posted October sales of 16,173, down 1.9 percent from the previous October. It sold 480 units of the 2012 Honda Civic Hybrid, a decline of 24.7 percent from the previous October.
Honda reported year-to-date Civic sales of 183,557 versus 215,393 in the same period in 2010. But it is unclear how many of the 183,557 were 2012 Civics. The various models of the 2012 Civic have been gradually rolled out this year. The sedan, coupe and hybrid versions debuted on April 20; the Civic HF debuted on May 10; the Civic Si coupe and sedan debuted on May 24 and the Civic Natural Gas model debuted on October 18.
Honda said it does not break out sales by model year and does not break out sales by various models with the exception of the Civic Hybrid. It has projected sales of approximately 2,000 Civic Natural Gas models per year in the near term, double the amount sold in recent years.
"Civic sales are down for one simple reason," wrote Chuck Schifsky, an American Honda Motor Co. spokesman in response to the e-mailed query from Inside Line. "Low dealer inventory as a result of a shortage of small parts caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake earlier this year which nearly halted production of the 2012 Civic."
Schifsky noted that flooding in Thailand "will cause another disruption in production."
"It's still too early to say how deeply this will impact production of the '12 Civic," he added. "But because dealer inventory of Civics is virtually zero and dealers are selling the few Civics they are getting almost as soon as the cars arrive, any disruption in Civic production will not help the situation."
He added: "We need to build more Civics and get them to our dealers. This is a supply problem, not a demand problem. There just aren't any Civics on dealer lots."
When the Japan earthquake hit, production of the Civic was just ramping up. Approximately 90 percent of the vehicles Honda sells in North America are built in North America, according to the automaker. The bulk of Civic models, including the sedan, are built in Greensburg, Indiana. Honda began a second production shift last week there, which boosts production to its full 200,000-unit annual capacity.
"While the majority of the parts are sourced in North America, there are a small number of parts that are sourced from Japan," Schifsky wrote. "This is what caused the vehicle shortage."
Honda announced earlier this week that flooding in Thailand will cause another disruption in production, likely delaying the debut of the 2012 Honda CR-V.
"It's still too early to say how deeply this will impact production of the '12 Civic," Schifsky said.
Inside Line says: Earthquakes and floods mean the 2012 Honda Civic is off to a rocky start in the marketplace.
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manybmws says:
12:07 PM, 11/23/2011
That's because people are confusing them with a 2006 Toyota Camry and they end up going to a Toyota dealer!
wuzer676 says:
06:51 PM, 11/07/2011
I apologize folks but I have to disagree with most of the comments here on this thread. I'm a salesman at one of the largest Honda Dealers in the country and I can't hold onto the new civic. I will agree that the vehicle is lacking some of it's usual charm but it has been refined in many ways and my customers notice. In reality the civics that stay longer on my lot are the hybrid's and the fully loaded models with leather and navigation (and for almost 25k no wonder why). The most popular models, LX and EX, are impossible to keep here. They show up and are sold within a few hours.
wingsfan19 says:
06:45 PM, 11/07/2011
A quick look on the internet and I found that the Civic is built in Greensburg, Indiana. (I knew Honda had several manufacturing plants in the U.S.) According to their website, they began mass production of the 2012 model in March this year. Apparently, they only build the sedans, but still I seriously doubt this place was affected by any natural disasters.
k55 says:
09:41 AM, 11/07/2011
In Sterling,VA I saw plenty of 11 Civics( prior body style) and only a few 12's and no Si's at all.
aviboy97 says:
08:37 AM, 11/07/2011
My local Honda dealer has at least 30 2012 Civic's in the front line and the Hyunda dealer right next to them has only a couple Elantra's.
There is an overall lack on interest in the 2012 Civic, not lack of inventory. I call BS on Honda!
lolxd says:
07:23 AM, 11/07/2011
Come one Honda, be honest. Don't deny the fact that the demand for your cars are low because it is I mean, who would want to choose an outdated Accord over a Sonata?
By design alone, their cars are outdated. What's more the internal stuff.
jmiami1 says:
08:03 PM, 11/06/2011
This is 100% crap, I'm in the process of shopping for a new car and we have an area here in Miami which is "auto dealer row" literally almost every manufacturer next to each other for almost one mile. There is a Honda dealer there and in its lot there must have been at least 20 2012 Civics just sitting there so Honda admit you failed period or are you afraid of disappointing your share holder more? At our recent (closing today actually) auto show there was barely a soul looking at Civics BUT the spokes model was drilling the Honda reliability card over the display's loud speakers like crazy almost to the point of ridiculous.
90in55 says:
08:03 PM, 11/06/2011
I live in Salt Lake City, and there are plenty of Civics in dealer lots. The only Civic model in short supply seems to be the Si.
piggy95621 says:
07:36 AM, 11/06/2011
I have a little comment on The Honda Company:
In 2008 my wife and I decided that we wanted to do some traveling around the U.S. as we worked most of our lives and have never seen the country. Gas was getting expensive and the car we had was old so I started to do research on different cars that got good fuel mileage.
The Honda Accord Hybrid was one that I liked since it had plenty of power, good company, good Honda engine.We bought the car.
Within two weeks the car started to cut out, sounded like the engine was backfiring, there were long hesitations when shifting. The car became unsafe.
Took the car to 5 dealerships, all said the car was fine and no recalls or service bulletins.
We couldn't sell it to a private party, with a clear conscience, so I traded it for a general motors car at a dealer. He stated it would go to auction. I could have gone for the Lemon Law, but didn't want to go through the trouble and hassle. I started searching on the internet and found many Blogs of the same problem, some sued Honda, they would not correct the problem or admit any blame.
I actually gave a much shortened version of all the "Hell" we went through. So Be Ware!
gmt450 says:
05:52 AM, 11/06/2011
Virtually zero eh? I have been car shopping and driven past 3 Honda dealers this weekend. I was actually curious to see if they had anything in stock...and they had plenty. Coupes, Sedans, the works - at least 10 Civics at each dealer. Stop throwing excuses Honda - you dropped the ball. Instead of spinning your marketing machine - fix the Civic!!