Haggle hard on a new Honda

After weathering the worst of the global financial crisis, Honda is mounting a sales comeback that could make buyers the big winners.

Honda sales are down 10 per cent so far this year -- in a market that is up by 20 per cent.

But the company has revealed it has an internal target to sell 50,000 cars this year -- 25 per cent more than last year's tally of about 40,000 but still shy of its all-time best annual sales which eclipsed 60,000.

To make up for lost time, Honda is going to be hitting the special deals hard for the remainder of the year.

"We've survived the global financial storm, our dealers are in good shape and we're ramping up for a strong finish to the year," says Honda Australia managing director Lindsay Smalley.

When asked how Honda was going to achieve such substantial growth in the remaining seven months of the year, the newly appointed CEO of Honda Australia, Satoshi Matsuzawa, told the Carsales Network: "Have faith. We are ready for the challenge."

Honda's main strategy will be a string of limited edition variants of its four most popular models: the Jazz hatch, Civic sedan, CR-V soft-roader and Accord mid-size car.

"We want to add value rather than cut prices," Smalley said. "We have just done a Civic deal for $24,990 drive-away and our dealers have snapped up all the cars already. We've run out. So you'll see more deals like that throughout the rest of the year."

Interestingly, Honda is still able to charge a premium compared with its rivals in such a cut throat market. For example, the Jazz is about $1500 dearer than its peers, the Civic is about $2000 dearer than its peers and the Accord Euro is about $3000 dearer than its peers. But a recent price cut to the facelifted CR-V model has brought it closer to the price leaders in the class and helped boost sales.

Smalley says Honda is a lot healthier financially both here and overseas than most industry observers realise.

"A lot of people look at our overall sales numbers and jump to conclusions, but the reality is that we are in good shape. We have cleared a lot of stock and the problem now is getting enough stock after the factories wound back production. That's all changing as we speak.

"Also, our dealers are getting a reasonable margin out of each car while other brands are slashing prices and potentially hurting their future resale values.

"Honda Motor itself is profitable and we are well on the way to rebuilding," he added.

Honda has run extended five-year warranty deals over recent years during end of financial year sales but they may not appear this year.

"We don’t want to do [five year warranty specials] too often, otherwise they’re not special," he said.

"However, [a five-year warranty] is open to us but initially we are going with the limited edition models and premium roadside assistance."

When asked if Honda was considering switching to a full time five-year warranty as with Hyundai, Kia and Mitsubishi (Ford is currently doing a five-year warranty deal on a Ranger and Falcon utes, Territory softroader and Transit vans, depending on which state or territory you live in), Smalley said: "We're looking at it, but everyone is looking at it I think."