Man! Read this and wonder if Mercedes might be in for a real struggle to compete with Honda/Acura in the future.

TOKYO (AP) - Honda Motor Co. is going to focus on creating quality cars rather than pursuing quick growth in sales, the new president of Japan's No.2 automaker said Thursday.

"I'm not setting sales targets," said Takeo Fukui, who took office as president and chief executive last month. "All that may be convenient for the business but it's totally irrelevant to the customer."

He said Honda has no plans now to add plants in North America in the next several years and would concentrate on the ongoing capacity increase at its Alabama plant to 300,000 vehicles a year from 150,000 vehicles to meet growing demand.

Honda has assembly operations in Alliston, Ont., northwest of Toronto, that employ 4,200 workers making about 360,000 vehicles annually.

Under Fukui's leadership, Honda will refuse to aimlessly seek numbers in selling cars and will stick to pleasing the customer "one by one," Fukui said, accepting the results as they come.

Fukui acknowledged Honda had come under intense pressure to boost sales in the last several years because of the onslaught of mergers among the world's automakers aimed at gaining profitability and cost cuts through sheer size.

And that sometimes may have led Honda off what Fukui believes is its true track.

With the exception of Toyota Motor Corp., Honda's Japanese rivals have entered alliances with foreign automakers - Nissan Motor Co. with Renault SA of France and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. with DaimlerChrysler AG of Germany.

Honda will continue to go at it alone, said Fukui, a soft-spoken, diminutively built man who conveys a quiet seriousness.

"When all cars are starting to look alike, we are looking for qualities that make Honda distinct," he said in an interview at headquarters in Tokyo.

"Our company takes the basic performance of the car itself very seriously - the drive, the stop and the turn. The car has to be fun to drive. That's the root of our cars."

Fukui, 58, the former head of Honda's U.S. manufacturing operations, takes over at a time when Honda is doing booming business in all regions outside Japan, where it is losing to the Japan's No.1 automaker, Toyota, and a revived Nissan.

In the fiscal year ended March 31, Honda posted its highest profit in company history, a profit of 427 billion yen, the equivalent of $3.6 billion US and an 18 per cent increase from the previous year.

It sold 2.89 million vehicles for the fiscal year, up eight per cent from the previous year. But vehicle sales in Japan were down 3.3 per cent at 849,000, while they were up 11 per cent in North America at 1.5 million vehicles.

That trend has continued in recent months.

"Honda is stuck in a long winter as far as the Japanese market," said Masaaki Sato, who has written books on Honda. "If you can't sell cars in your own home market, that means Honda can't feel it's on sure footing."

Honda has produced hit models here, such as the Fit subcompact, but as rivals come out with similar models, Honda has had a tough time.

"The Japanese market is important," Koichi Amemiya, Honda executive vice president, told The Associated Press. "We can't let Toyota take all that alone."

Fukui said Honda will rely on technology to win back buyers although he refused to give details of what was in the works.

Honda is setting up new research centres in Japan, the United States and Germany, where it will study lighter material for car bodies, fuel made from plants and artificial intelligence, the company said Thursday.

"Presidents at Honda tend to have a common trait," said Nobuyuki Kondo, a Honda general manager. "They never forget to pursue a dream. And we just follow that."

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John Shellenberg
1998 C230 "Black Betty" 240K

http://img31.exs.cx/img31/4050/tophat6.gif

Honda makes wonderful cars...they have been making high-quality economical cars that have sold wonderfully in North America...they also have more edgy models to satisfy to the younger crowds, but still retain their overall reliability...if the new management sticks to their original plan, or builds upon it to increase quality even more, they definitely have a winning formula...

Being the owner of a Honda, I have to say I am extremely satisfied with the automobile...other than 1 or 2 minor design details I find annoying/cheap, the car has yet to fail on me...I do hope that Honda would at least improve the quality of their paintjob though...although visibly okay, it is very easily chipped and scratched...the flat raked hood on my 5th generation Accord are beginning to show some rock chips which I should probably take care of with some help from the Detailing forum...

A part of owning the car is general maintenance, and having dealt with Honda's service department vs. Mercedes-Benz', I have to admit that although Honda's setup lacks fancy soundsystems with electrostatic speakers and fancy furniture for the customers, the experience has been much better...when you walk in, the service advisor tells you what work will be done on the car, they call you if extra work needs to be done and gets your approval, and when you pick up the car, they go down the list with you...they also put a little sticker on the top left hand corner of my windshield telling me when the next servce should be...the work rate is also much more reasonable...other than a few greasy fingerprints on certain caps in the engine compartment, I have been very satisfied with their work...when the car was still under warranty and a problem occured, they did not ask/question you, but performed it quickly and diligently...I am very impressed with Honda...

Lately, Mercedes-Benz has been very disappointing...service at Mercede had always been a pleasure before, but recently, it has just gone downhill...for some odd reason...they love to keep mentioning the fact that my car is "old"...sheeeeesh...if they would cut the "old" rhetoric, it would improve my customer satisfaction rating with them significantly...

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1995 black pearl/black Mercedes-Benz E420 :

That man is a genius. He deserves a raise.....and a promotion!

Mercedes needs to hire that man, and I mean right now.

Setting sales targets is convenient for the business, "but it's totally irrelevant to the customer". I love it.

FWIW, every review I read about Honda cars in any of the five (5) automobile magazines I subscribe to leaves the reviewers falling over themselves praising the car. With the lastest version of the Honda Accord, they were all commenting on how favorable the Accord compares to the Mercedes E-class.

I think with Fukui san in place, they just might get there.

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Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".

The part about sales targets being irrelevant to the customer speaks to the quality issue that Mercedes is having.

It is like the unemployment rate, or the casualty rate in a war.

Even if the unemployment in the U.S. is low at around 6%, if you are out of work, your unemployment is 100%.

Even if the casualty rate in the Iraq war was unbelievably low (lower than 1% I suspect), if your son / daughter / spouse was killed, the casualty rate to you and your family was 100%.

What all this means is that quality problems, even when low, have a huge impact on the owner of a car that is experiencing a particular defect / breakdown.

I still can't get over how brilliant Fukui san is.

That man deserves the Nobel Peace Price for Automotive Genius.

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Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".

Fortune magazine claims that Honda makes more motors than any other manufacturer. It's quite possible that other car companies my purchase engines from Honda and Honda will not make cars. This being said ', believe that Diamler Benz was a big mistake combining with Chysler simply because the Germans do not under stand well enough our culture. I think the only way MB can go regarding quality is down. Look for more complaints as it aint what it used to be. These guys (MB) want to make money without selling a quality car. So goes the world.

Does this mean they'll discontinue that ugly-ass, poorly reviewed Element?
NO?

oh well..............

Gilly

Honda has signed an agreement to supply V6 engines to Saturn for their performance models. I think they will be called "R" models.

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Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".

Gilly, the Element is a sales success. I know a couple owners and they are so happy with them. Huge interior, great fuel economy, available AWD, etc. Well, it's not as ugly as the Aerio from Suzuki, but...

I will say when I read this article it made me sit down. Mercedes should hire this guy and pay him anything he wants. Cripes, it's not like Honda makes crap, and he wants to really get down to work making quality automobiles? Isn't Honda usually ranked in the top for quality now? You bet.

Also, his resistance to merger-mania is GREAT. The last thing we need is bigger car companies sharing more platforms and making more versions of crappy cars.

Honda just became the company to watch.

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John Shellenberg
1998 C230 "Black Betty" 240K

http://img31.exs.cx/img31/4050/tophat6.gif

lawnmowers, powerwashers, etc. etc...you name it...if it uses an engine...Honda is usually up there in terms of reliability and performance...

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1995 black pearl/black Mercedes-Benz E420 :

It's uglier than that. It's ugly as a Trabant. It's even marginally uglier than a Pontiac Ass-tek.

It is "Coyote Ugly"

It is "uglier than a mud fence in a rainstorm" as the local saying goes.

I am physically affected everytime I see one, and I don't mean about my shorts.

I could see them being used by a company as a delivery vehicle, preferrably high explosives.

I somehow feel bad for someone with low enough taste to purchase one.

I realize they probably are selling OK, some kind of reflection on todays society I guess.

Gilly

The element is NOT an ugly car. Me myself go into my freinds Honda every single day and it takes us through thick and thin such as the harsh canadian winters and summers. They need to improve rust control somehow but otherwise its flawless.

MB needs major improvement with quality and it would be a shame to see them go under.

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99 C43
98 S420
99 C230K
01 C240

As ugly as a Trabant? Now waaaait a minute!
A Trabant is sooo ugly, that it's actually kinda cute.
The Element (I had to go to their site to check one out) reminds me of a Volkswagon transporter (their newer Vans) with a longer nose, up front. The sides remind me of a cross between a Jeep and a Hummer. (no, not THAT kind of hummer ) The rest of it reminds me of the souped up Pathfinder....umm X-terra or whatever it's called.
Personally, it's just another cross breed between a station wagon and a van, and high off the ground.

As for the Aztec....I would be embarrased to drive one of those things, (at least the canary yellow and black version). Kinda like my ex-wife used to act when I wore something that obviously didn't match, (and I obviously didn't have a clue LOL).

Have fun y'all!

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It is a truism that almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so. Robert A. Heinlein


09 Jetta TDI
1985 300D

Gilly, what the Element lacks in styling, it MORE than makes up for in functionality. Had the Element been on the market when I bought my Saturn VUE, Saturn wouldn't have even been on the radar for a SUV purchase. I have over two FEET worth of space between my knees and the front seatback, sitting in the back seat with the front set at my comfort spot for driving. This little test is the baseline for any vehicle I buy for carrying people. I could have had AWD with a manual tranny instead of being forced to have an automatic, which seems to be the tranny force fed to the buying public these days. Don't get me wrong, I like the CVT tranny in my VUE, but the manual is still more fun. While the Element definitely has the comic book style, the Asstek took it to such an extreme that all I want to do is laugh hysterically when I see one. Another GM flop.

Sugiami, the 3.5l V6 will be used in all of the v6 powered VUE's next year, with the "red line" designated models having primarily packaging differences. The only performance enhanced model will be the supercharged ION quad coupe.

That's the name of their performance models. Redline.

In the current issue of one of the five car magazines I subscribe to, it is pointed out that the Honda V6 engines will only be offered in the Redline models.

In any event, whether in just the Redline or in all V6 powered Vue models, GM will be using Honda V6 engines.

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Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".

different strokes for different folks - who used to use that saying - Suzuki wasn't it?
Anyway - I kinda like the Element and have been trying my best into talking the wife into trading the CRV for one but she wants an Odyssee.

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Jim