My wife and I contacted a different dealer and we put in or order for a 2019 today. 8-10 weeks or so we should have a new Clarity PHEV.
So one Michigan dealer said there were no 2019 Claritys coming to Michigan. Did you tell them another dealer would take your order? It will be nice to get your Clarity after the chance of snow in Michigan becomes less likely. Flint received a foot of snow in May, 1923, but you should be pretty safe in June. A foot of snow fell in Ann Arbor on December, 2018, the night before we took delivery of our Clarity. Fortunately, I had brought a set of Nokian Hakkapeliitta snow tires to the dealer to be mounted the day before.
I've owned many a Hakkapeliitta tire; however, not since moving to Tennessee. Sent from my SM-N960U using Inside EVs mobile app
I did not - yet. I'll wait for the salesman to send me another email advertising some other vehicles I don't want and then tell him I'm no longer in the market for a vehicle and ask him to quit sending the ads. Yes, June should be past the snow season, at least in the southern lower.
So I finally have a 2019 Crimson Pearl Clarity PHEV. The second dealer tried to order one for me, but apparently Honda said no. I ended up buying one from West Herr Honda in Lockport, NY.
Hope you enjoy it. A bit of a distance to get one, but apparently ZEV states are prioritized for sale. The first year nearly all dealers sold them, but I guess due to ZEV credits and dealers results the policy changed.
Now a big concern for those of us in non ZEV states will be the level of service we receive on Clarity specific issues.
I think it depends on the dealer's stance on the car. There is an influence on being in a ZEV state, but it's a secondary factor in the sense that the ZEV states tend to be ones where EV is a "thing". Looking at it from the dealer's perspective . . . why should they invest the capital and the training effort on a vehicle that represents an insignificant part of their potential sales? Yes, this tends to be a self-fulfilling prophecy, but the reality is that certain parts of the US are more attuned to EV than others. I live in a part of the country where Honda dealers sell big pickup trucks and American Land Boats. My Carity is the first one that this dealership ever sold, and is likely to be the last. The owner of my dealership was quite upset with Honda for putting a minimum requirement in place for training and equipment to service EVs. Of course he was . . . it's basically money wasted for him. So yeah, I am very concerned about service, if I need anything beyond routine maintenance.
Here's what I'm thinking - and why knowing all the ZEV stuff I went ahead and bought a Clarity. The Clarity uses the i-MMD technology, the 2 motor tech. Isn't that pretty similar to the Accord and Insight Hybrids? In a previous thread someone posted quotes from a Honda exec saying they plan on putting the 2 motor tech in all their vehicles. So the Clarity may be an orphan, but it seems to me that it has siblings and that helps it with dealer service. Sure there are some things specific to the Clarity, but I'm thinking that there are and will be enough similarities to help.