Louis Nisenbaum
Active Member
Moonlit forest pearl with the moon..one in a million!
In November, 2017, I let the dealer put my Clarity PHEV in the showroom for a week after I took it for a test drive (the photo at the left is from the showroom). Many asked the salespeople if they could get Moonlit Forest Pearl on their Accord, their Civic, or their CR-V, but not one person asked about the Clarity itself.That’s the color I have. Specifically sought it out.
It’s been winter for so long, I forgot how good it looks when clean.
None of the people that I have spoken to have ever even heard of the Clarity.Most of the folks I've spoken to think of the FCX when they hear clarity.
Probably would have. And lost even more money. Not that I think they lost money on every Clarity sale, but it means they probably lost a sale of one of their much more profitable models.If they'd badged it an Accord Sportback, they'd have sold more.
I believe Honda lost money on every Clarity sold--especially because so many were sold below MSRP. There's no way all that battery and technology in a low-volume car made in Japan and shipped to North America could make a profit when selling for about the price of a similarly optioned Accord built in the US.None of the people that I have spoken to have ever even heard of the Clarity.
Probably would have. And lost even more money. Not that I think they lost money on every Clarity sale, but it means they probably lost a sale of one of their much more profitable models.
Not disagreeing with your premise, but technically speaking it's the factory incentives that affected profitability for Honda, not the selling price of the car. Selling below MSRP (or above) does not affect Honda, as that is the dealer's money at that point and affects only the dealer's profit. Honda is affected by the price that they sell the car to the dealer for (including holdbacks and all of that) as compared to their cost to manufacturer it. My theory is that Honda sold the PHEV Clarity to dealers at a price that was just above breakeven, and then set MSRP at the usual markup over dealer cost. Dealers, as with any car, could attempt to sell the Clarity at MSRP and make a tidy profit, or as in most cases discount off of MSRP to make the customer feel that they are getting a deal, while still making a profit. However when that's not working and cars are not moving fast enough, the manufacturer will step in with dealer incentives or direct to customer incentives. In that case it's the manufacturer who is giving up some (but usually not all) of their profits in order to get the cars to sell. In the case of Clarity I suspect that any amount of factory incentives for Clarity put Honda in the red, and since that eventually proved to be the only way they could sell Clarity in meaningful numbers, then yes at that point essentially each one was sold at a loss to Honda.I believe Honda lost money on every Clarity sold--especially because so many were sold below MSRP. There's no way all that battery and technology in a low-volume car made in Japan and shipped to North America could make a profit when selling for about the price of a similarly optioned Accord built in the US.