American Honda gets lift from core cars, Odyssey to set record

LOS ANGELES -- American Honda posted its best April on record, with U.S. sales rising 14 percent to 148,829 vehicles on strong car and light-truck demand.

The Honda division set a monthly record, as well, with volume advancing 15 percent to 132,623 vehicles. Car volume rose 14 percent and light-truck deliveries advanced 16 percent.

The car gains came largely from core models -- Accord volume jumped 16 percent while Civic sales advanced 25 percent.

“The products that got us to the dance have always been our cars,” Jeff Conrad, general manager of the Honda division, told Automotive News.

Despite the industry’s focus on profitable light trucks, a favorite among consumers these days, Honda will continue to invest in its car lineup.

“This industry has gotten itself into trouble in the past by putting all of its eggs in one basket and we want to make sure our basket is diverse,” Conrad said.

While the Civic’s gains were understandable -- the completely redesigned model is all-new for 2016 -- the Accord is late in its lifecycle, receiving a mid-model refresh last year. Yet Honda is seeing demand for the Accord jump because consumers who come in for the new Civic ultimately make the leap for the larger model, Conrad said.

The Honda division’s light-truck sales -- 60,300 vehicles in April -- were boosted mostly by the Odyssey and the new HR-V subcompact crossover. Deliveries of the minivan jumped 18 percent to 13,047 in April, while the HR-V added nearly 7,000 units of volume. The rest of Honda’s light-truck lineup was quiet as the company wrestled with capacity constraints for the brisk-selling Pilot crossover.

Acura’s U.S. sales rose 9 percent to 16,206 vehicles last month. The gain reflected a 49 percent spike in RDX compact crossover deliveries and helped push the brand’s light truck volume up 19 percent to 10,638 vehicles.

Overall, Acura’s car sales -- a recent bright spot for the company -- slipped 6.1 percent to 5,568 vehicles in April and are now down 2.6 percent for the year.