American Honda Motor Co.'s U.S. sales fell 5 percent to 115,557 in February behind lower demand for its three most important vehicles: the Accord and Civic sedans and the CR-V crossover.
Some dealers say the critically acclaimed Accord, which was named the North American Car of the Year in January, is in serious need of incentives as the midsize sedan begins to pile up on store lots.
Acura, on the other hand, saw a slight gain as car sales continued to trend upward while its crossover deliveries declined.
Brands: Honda division sales were down 5.6% to 104,588 units, while Acura rose 1% to 10,969 units.
Notable nameplates: Honda Accord, down 16%; Honda Civic, off 4.5%; Honda CR-V, down 19%; Honda HR-V up 6.9%; Acura ILX, up 22%; Acura TLX, up 16%; Acura MDX, off 5.8%; Acura RDX, down 6.5%.
Incentives: Up 4.2% to $1,837 from January but down 15% year-over-year, according to ALG.
Average transaction price: $27,900, up 1.9% from the year-earlier period, according to ALG.
Quote: "As supplies of our light-truck offerings continue to grow, we've maintained a strong sales pace, notably with sharp increases to Pilot and HR-V," said Henio Arcangeli Jr., senior vice president of the automobile division and general manager of the Honda brand, in a statement. "We're selling every CR-V we can build and it continues to lead the segment in average transaction price, which demonstrates its true retail demand."
Did you know? Acura's U.S. car sales jumped 17 percent in February despite an industrywide slump in sedan demand.
