Honda’s Global Victory And The Well Timed Launch Of The Civic

Honda achieved international success in the automotive industry mostly because of the timely introduction of its exceptionally popular model, the Civic and its viewpoint towards conservation of resources. Prior to 1973, Honda was primarily known as one of the largest manufacturers of inexpensive and straightforward motorcycles. It had previously introduced automobiles in the local Japanese car market but the cars were too small for the American Markets tastes.

Middle income households were forced to rethink their spending habits and expenditures due to the prevalent energy crisis in the seventies. Cars in the States had previously been large and heavy bodied vehicles with high fuel consumption and had been anything but cost-effective. The Civic appeared to be a ray of hope for these families during these times of hardship. With its compact design, low fuel consumption, and capacity to seat four people the Civic turned out to be the ideal choice for a new car.

Although the major factors of the Civics resounding success were its condensed size and fuel saving abilities success, consumers were attracted to its other features as well. Initially introduced as two variations, a front wheel drive, two and three door hatchback with a four-cylinder, water-cooled engine, the Civic proved to be exciting and enjoyable to drive within city centers and on the motorway. The Civics growing reputation convinced Honda to introduce more choices for the Civic and add entirely new models to its car line up.

Honda’s use of pioneering, new designs and improved performance enabled the Civic to retain its newly acquired status of a leading international compact car. The Civic was given a larger hood and front fender shape was changed to house a larger, low emission engine, which met environmental laws in effect at that time. A five-speed transmission, four-door wagon, was introduced to the existing line of models and with improved diversity car buyers all over the States started buying the new models.

In a move to further strengthen its position across different segments of the car market, Honda soon introduced two higher end, trendy cars to draw a more profitable and upscale crowd. The Accord and Prelude helped to penetrate a yet untapped part of the automotive industry, while the Civic was perpetually improved and included upgraded features and trims that were not offered by other cars in the same class. Honda held steadfast to its ideology of resource preservation and its reputation remained largely unscathed at a time when awareness of the dangers of carbon emissions was becoming increasingly wide spread.

Honda’s plan to launch a fuel-efficient car in an era of growing costs proved productive. With improvement after improvement, the Civics brilliantly designed interior and exterior, reliability, fuel economy and minimum running expenses have been a tremendous success with car buyers the world over. It has gained the status of one of the most well recognized and liked cars in its class and as many drivers will testify, once you purchase a Honda Civic there’s no other car that can satisfy you.