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As U.S. dealers decline, Honda celebrates 50 years
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Honda's first motorcyle dealership in the U.S. opened in 1959. Dig that new '60 Chevy Apache
Today, Honda celebrates 50 years of business in the U.S. It’s hard to believe that they’ve been here this long, but every year they seem to get stronger and better than ever.
One sad component to Honda’s success is that even as Honda reaches this milestone, much of the dealer body that built the backbone of the brand is being forced out of business.
Honda opened its first store in the U.S. in Los Angeles in 1959. They were a motorcycle brand back then, and made a name for themselves on the two-wheel side of the business before introducing the diminutive Civic in 1973.
The early Honda cars were laughable, chintzy cracker boxes. They were so small they didn’t even look like they should be on the road surrounded by real traffic. They didn’t even come equipped with heaters.
Compared to most of the cars of the day, they didn’t use much fuel, though. And that was a big advantage, because in the early 70s, as is the case today, there was an oil crisis. Hondas were a little like an enclosed, uninspired motorcycle with a car body on it. They didn’t do much to please their owners, but they also didn’t pollute much.
A certain faction of the population was attracted to the little fuel-misers, though, and dealers began to notice. Soon Chevy, Ford, and Dodge stores all over the country were carving out a little space on their showrooms to sell a Honda or two. I would go so far as to say that companies like Honda would have never gotten a foothold in this country had it not been for the Big Three’s strong dealer body. The Honda distribution system was literally built off of the backbone of American car dealers.
Those dealers would never have taken on Honda if there weren’t money to be made, and over the years, many of them did just that. It took quite a while for Honda cars to be more than the butt of small car jokes, but the more they sold, the better they got.
It is a stark contrast to today, where GM, Ford, and Chrysler are treating their dealer body more like a liability than an advantage. It was a network of retail outlets that not only made the parent companies successful, but also fostered the very competition that is eating its parents.
Honda is in a particularly good position today. As a company that never really did produce any serious trucks, Honda has the distinction on saying they are the world’s greenest car company. Luckily, all car companies aren’t that green, or no one would build anything that could be used to build and maintain our infrastructure. But as far as light-duty cars and family sedans are concerned, Honda is still going strong.
Honda has been suffering losses lately along with the rest of the auto industry, but as fuel regulations get stricter, those losses should soon curtail. With no expectations of trucks, muscle cars, or V8 luxury cars, Honda should be able to stay the course with no perception of change to their consumers. Honda has stuck with the original game plan of providing reliable, miserly transportation. And by staying the course, they really have come a long way in 50-years.
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