US car makers “should try harder,” Honda Motor president Hiroyuki Yoshino told reporters when asked about the Japanese car makers’ steady carving of a greater share of the US market over the past few years and the growing sense of unease created by brutal price wars there, Reuters said.
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“Exports from Japan have fallen. We’ve cut exports every year,” Yoshino reportedly added.
Reuters said Yoshino, Honda’s president for the last five years, was speaking at the launch of the company’s Inspire luxury sedan – his last news conference before stepping down later this month.
Japanese car makers were more adept at responding to customer preferences and able to develop and bring cars to market much faster than their US counterparts, he said, according to the news agency.
Yoshino reportedly added that some Japanese companies like Honda were able to command a brand premium that allowed them to keep sales incentives low in contrast to Detroit’s Big Three.
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By GlobalData“Incentives push down the resale value of a car and consumers take that into account,” he said, according to Reuters.
The news agency said Honda was aiming to sell 2,000 Inspire sedans a month in Japan, with the most expensive version of the model featuring a new brake system designed to help prevent collisions.
The system uses a millimetre-wave radar to detect vehicles within a range of about 100 metres ahead. If a collision risk is detected, the system warns the driver as well as automatically pulling the seatbelt back tight before a collision occurs, Reuters said.
Honda reportedly said it will need time to assess customer response to the new technology and it may take longer than five years before it makes its way to the US market.
According to Reuters, Yoshino will be replaced by senior managing director Takeo Fukui. His resignation is part of a regular reshuffle as Honda presidents typically spend four to five years at the helm, the report added.
