Some concerns from Honda dealers

Here's how three Honda retailers reacted to news of Sony Honda Mobility's strategy to offer its vehicle service plans to competing brands:

"Honda is taking a risk in alienating its dealer body, which sold about 1.2 million vehicles a year pre-COVID, for a poorly thought-out plan to sell somewhere around 100,000 vehicles annually. The Sony-Honda JV's attempt to maintain the fiction that they are 'independent' from Honda is disingenuous. [The] products are being designed and produced using Honda resources and they should solely be sold by Honda dealers. Honda should not be competing with the same dealers who have invested billions of dollars in their Honda franchises and helped make Honda a legendary brand." — Bill Feinstein, chairman of the Honda National Dealer Advisory Board and president of Planet Honda in Tilton, N.H., and general manager of Planet Honda in Union, N.J.

"Honda said the Sony JV is operating separate from Honda Motor and their decisions with respect to distribution of their product is at their discretion. I don't know to what extent they have an obligation to tell us what they're doing in conjunction with Sony. I don't believe Honda will be in competition with Honda or Acura. There were questions about this when the Acura line first came out: 'Are they going to be competing with Honda?' And the answer has been no, because that's not good for Honda or Acura. I've been witness to this with the Honda and Acura products. My Honda and Acura stores sit next to each other … and both do very good business." — Brian Benstock, owner of Paragon Honda and Paragon Acura in New York City

"I think this issue needs to percolate a bit before we see where it finally lands." — Geoff Pohanka, chairman of NADA and Pohanka Auto Group, which has five Honda stores across Maryland, Virginia and Texas