Ford has the Edge. Subaru has the Outback. Toyota has the Venza. Nissan the Murano. Mazda the CX-7. Hyundai the Santa Fe. And now, coming later this month, Honda has the 2010 Accord Crosstour.
Yes, Honda is late to this game. Very late. And even at that, Honda really is only dipping its big toe into a segment where so many others have found success and won fans.
In fact, Honda has exceedingly modest expectations for the Crosstour: annual sales of about 3,000 for a car that amounts to a tall station wagon with a long list of standard upscale features.
Toyota has been selling more than 1,000 Venzas a month lately and Subaru's sales have exploded with the introduction of the newly updated Outback.
Officially, the Crosstour – with an estimated price of about $35,000 – is a crossover, which means it's a car sort of pretending to be an SUV. Pretending, indeed. In standard trim, the Crosstour is a front-driver, just like the Accord sedan on which it is based.
In reality, though, the Crosstour is a Honda Accord with a big hatchback at the rear and optional all-wheel-drive, leather seats, power everything, an excellent sound system, a lovely carpeted cargo area with nifty little hatches and cubbies all over, all powered by a strong and fuel efficient 3.5-litre V-6 (271 horsepower).
You read that right. Honda is only offering the Crosstour with a V-6. That's not entirely unusual. The Edge is a V-6-only ride, as is the Murano and the Santa Fe. On the other hand, Subaru has a four-cylinder Outback and Toyota can barely meet demand for its four-banger Venza.
Caution, thy name is Honda. But that's been the whole story of Honda for this past year.
More than a year ago, Honda began making radical moves to cut costs and align production with the falling demand of a global recession. To save money, Honda jettisoned its Formula One racing effort, offered buyouts to scores of workers, negotiated pay cuts with others, carefully revisited its new model development program and moved quickly to do its best at aligning production to falling demand. Honda's problems have been compounded by a strong yen that makes exports from Japan expensive in Canada and the United States.
The result of all Honda's diligence: a profit last year and Honda is predicting a profit for the fiscal year that ends next March 31.
“This was a really tough year,” Honda Motor president Takanobu Ito recently told trade journal Automotive News. “We are barely making a profit. This is something we had anticipated from the very beginning, and our projection turned out to be true.
“Especially in the United States, our biggest market, the recovery, for us at least, is slow. And Europe's recovery is even slower. This is having a major negative impact on our corporate performance.”
But not as bad as Ito might lead you to believe. Honda is predicting an annual profit of $2.1-billion (U.S.) for the current fiscal year. Jerry Chenkin, Honda Canada executive vice-president, says Honda is obsessive about earnings; without profits, there is no money for new-model development. And without new models and new technologies, Honda will fall behind the competition.
Yet while Honda does have leadership in many areas, including having Canada's best-selling car for nine straight years in the Civic, the Crosstour is an example of Honda chasing the competition.
This may be because Honda has been reluctant to tamper with its current lineup. In Honda's world, the Crosstour fits in between the Honda CR-V compact crossover and the Honda Pilot SUV. Honda apparently did not feel it needed something to fill that gap – until now.
It's possible Honda is not offering the Crosstour with a four-banger in order to avoid competing against the CR-V and hurting sales of the latter. Honda isn't saying. But the body language of company types suggests Honda Canada would rather have a four-cylinder Crosstour and let the CR-V – given a facelift for 2010, by the way – fend for itself.
The Crosstour, in fact, is a perfectly sensible Honda Accord hatchback. Moreover, it looks much better in person than any of the pictures might suggest. The newest Honda isn't quite as large and heavy as the Pilot or the Odyssey minivan. Yet it has roomier passenger quarters than the CR-V.
