Anyone have information? Dealer claims Clarity discontinued.

The person I spoke with had no choice but to relay the official Honda position and reasoning. Stocking inventory only in CA "due to demand" or "to satisfy demand" has some merit if you look at EV sales figures. And if you look at how long 2018 models sat at some dealerships...

A bit off topic, but some of the conversation does add a little more insight to the Clarity availability. Paraphrasing, but Honda has committed to reducing greenhouse gasses, and stated that electrification is how they look to acheive that. However, they have recently decided to include traditional hybrids in their definition of "electrified vehicles" (along with many other manufacturers), and that is where their emphasis will be going forward. Reading between the lines I see "Don't expect any more PHEV's from Honda". He did explicitly state that Honda was working on a new BEV for the US market, but couldn't give any details.

I expect that people will have all kinds of opinions on why that is wrong, but I'm just the messenger here. Honda tends to be very methodical in their approach to creating/prodicing vehicles (read that also as less able to adapt), and having gone down the fuel cell path (with Toyota) are more than a bit behind the curve. They are likely to be a bit player until it is possible for them to crank out BEV's in volume and at the same price levels as current ICE offerings. They will of course have offerings in Section 177 States to garner the necessary ZEV credits (unless Trump has his way and that distinction goes away), but they are unlikely to be PHEV's as they are more costly and garner fewer credits.
 
Honda is just following the demand. Why send Clarities to dealerships in Oklahoma where they will sit for 6-9 months without a nibble when you can send them to California where they will sell within a few weeks?
 
Mowcowbell said:
Honda is just following the demand. Why send Clarities to dealerships in Oklahoma where they will sit for 6-9 months without a nibble when you can send them to California where they will sell within a few weeks?
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Of course they sit there. Honda had a lack of common sense when they built a great car, didn't advertise (past a few last year), then seem surprised when they didn't sell.

You cannot sell an item, any item, if no one knows it's for sale. {headslap}
 
I think the car makers are in for a wake up call. They are going to reach saturation point for the number of people who are comfortable with the range for these cars.

I foresee car lots full of BEVs that are not going anywhere.
 
4sallypat said:
Back to the OP, I think Germain made their own decision not to sell the Clarity because they don't want to hassle with the customer ordering, waiting, then hoping it will be actually purchased when it arrives.
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Germain has taken the web page down. They insisted they tried to order more Claritys and were told they cannot. Germain has sold more Claritys than any other dealer in Michigan, and they have invested in the expensive battery lift and multiple Level 2 EVSEs Honda required to be a Clarity dealer and service facility, so it doesn't make sense to me that they would not want to continue selling them--especially because any special-ordered Claritys would sell for MSRP. If a special-order Clarity arrived and was then refused by the person who ordered it, I doubt Germain would have much trouble selling it, as it would be the only 2020 Clarity in the state for sale.

I'm going there tomorrow for my A02 service. I'll see if I can find out if AHM contacted them about the erroneous web page. BTW, I didn't want a non-carbon Honda cabin filter, so I install a Fram Fresh Breeze myself before taking it in for inspection part of the A02. I got a little surprise when I pulled out the 2-year old filter:

upload_2019-12-4_20-20-5.webp


I don't know how recently this mouse's nest was occupied (I heard no scuttling noises when I dropped the glove box and pulled off the filter door), but it's much smaller than another one we had here in Ann Arbor. Our old Honda Civic had such a huge nest that every time we turned on the blower, we'd be showered with seeds. Somehow it was occupied and fully stocked in just a few days while the car was in the garage. I'm surprised to find our modern Clarity is still vulnerable to such infestations.
 
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Tek_Freek said:
Of course they sit there. Honda had a lack of common sense when they built a great car, didn't advertise (past a few last year), then seem surprised when they didn't sell.

You cannot sell an item, any item, if no one knows it's for sale. {headslap}
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This is so true.
Look at the MY 18 Clarity PHEV - they were languishing in other states for months if not a year!
In CA, the MY 18 were gone by end of Jan/Feb of 2019!

My dealer had all theirs sold by the end of December because I remember mine was pulled off the truck at the dealership to avoid the HOV stickers being automatically applied by the service dept.

I asked for a Clarity without the red HOV stickers and opted to apply for a purple 2019 sticker.
 
The Clarity is not as popular in upstate New York. I'm not sure advertising would overcome the facts.

Average battery range is closer to 35 miles (50 in summer, and 25 in the cold of winter). This reduces the usefulness of the electric, but also increases the cost per mile on electric.

We don't have the HOV sticker issue to push the cars out the door.
 
More brilliant Honda marketing strategy. Sending out email about the Clarity to people who just bought a Clarity.
 
Yeah I got it too. I live in Indiana. So I couldn't buy/lease one of those cars even if I wanted to...

But emails are free...whether sent to 1 person, or 1 billion people. So from Honda's perspective, why not? And it did inspire at least one conversation right here on this forum. Likely more elsewhere. So marketing works, often even when people think it doesn't work, or that it is pointless.
 
Honda made sure to send this email ad for the Clarity Fuel Cell and Clarity Plug-In Hybrid to me in Ann Arbor, home of Germain Honda! So cruel!

Is Honda no longer proud of the Clarity Electric? Why wasn't that Clarity in this ad?

Today when I took my Clarity in for its A02 maintenance ($126 even though I'd already changed the cabin air filter myself), Germain maintained that the Clarity might as well be discontinued for Michigan customers because Honda's filling orders from California and ZEV states first and there won't be any left for the incentive-free states. The manager I spoke with admitted that Germain's web page claiming the car was discontinued was not the right thing to do, but I couldn't find out who made the decision to put that deceptive page online.
 
Landshark said:
More brilliant Honda marketing strategy. Sending out email about the Clarity to people who just bought a Clarity.
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Yep, I got that same email today. Someone in marketing at Honda needs to think about their target audience. I'm already the owner of a unicorn in a world of lifted 4x4 half ton trucks with $1.95 gas.
 
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