HONDA: A drag from Accord, Civic; Trucks set record

American Honda had a strong U.S. sales performance in September from the freshened Honda Pilot and re-engineered Acura RDX crossovers, but lower sales across the rest of the line resulted in a 7 percent overall sales dip from the year-earlier period.

The Accord's sales slide continued with a 15 percent decline, while the Civic saw a 30 percent drop as the refreshed 2019 model gets ready to go on sale Oct. 10.

The decrease in Civic sales is largely related to supply, a spokeswoman said.

“Because of Honda’s flexible manufacturing approach, we can align our production with consumer demand and the growing trend toward light trucks," the spokeswoman said. "It’s also worth pointing out that Civic’s going up against a record-setting year in 2017, and while it may be down [from the previous year], nearly 25,000 sales is still impressive within its segment.”

American Honda light-truck sales set a September record on 73,785 deliveries. The RDX had its fourth straight monthly sales record with 5,699 units, while the Pilot set a September record as well with 15,464 units sold.

Brands: Honda down 8.2%; Acura up 4.4%

2018 U.S. market share: 9.3% through Sept. vs. 9.6% through Sept. 2017.

Notable nameplates: Accord down 14.9%; Civic down 30%; CR-V down 1.2%; HR-V down 25.5%; Pilot up 50.2%; RDX up 54.3%, TLX down 18.8%

Incentives: $1,980 per vehicle, up 1.1% from a year earlier, according to ALG.

Average transaction price: $28,680, up 5.1% from a year earlier, according to ALG.

Quote: "We enter the final quarter of the year in a very strong position across our passenger car and light-truck lineups, putting us in striking distance of a fourth consecutive year of record sales for the Honda and Acura brands combined," said Henio Arcangeli Jr., senior vice president of the American Honda Automobile Division.

Did you know? Honda's electrified vehicle sales set a monthly record, topping 5,000 units for the third consecutive month.