Honda UK has priced its three new CR-V i-CTDi diesel SUV, to be launched in March, at £1,400 ($US2,673) above the petrol-powered line-up.
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The new diesel range will come with SE, Sport and Executive trim levels, all with standard six-speed manual transmission – unlike Land Rover’s Freelander and the Hyundai Tucson/Kia Sportage twins, the new Honda doesn’t offer an automatic option with its diesel engine. Toyota, too, offers the rival diesel RAV-4 only with a manual gearbox.
The diesel Hondas also have a tailgate spoiler (for improved aerodynamics) and ‘i-CTDi’ badging on the front wings and tailgate.
Having only recently added a diesel engine to its Accord passenger car line, the automaker is finally entering one of the fastest growing market segments in the UK – diesel SUV sales rose two thirds in the past two years, easily offsetting a one sixth drop in petrol-powered model volume.
“With this in mind, we anticipate an eventual petrol/diesel split of 57/43, with annual CR-V sales now expected to total 21,500,” said Honda (UK)’s product planning manager, Richard Benton.
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By GlobalData“Such an achievement would place CR-V well ahead of competitors with, for example, Land Rover Freelander and Toyota RAV 4 achieving around 16,000 and 12,000 units respectively for combined petrol / diesel five-door model sales last year,” he added.
Honda’s advertising strategy has been to create awareness both for the Honda brand and for the diesel engine, driving demand for core models like the CR-V. In order to promote the new diesel, Honda has re-introduced its ‘Hate something, change something’ TV advertisement and launched a CR-V diesel print campaign to further boost sales.
“Diesel customers are expected to be younger then petrol ones, and do a higher mileage,” added Benton. “They are expected to be predominantly male (74%), and more likely to have children than petrol SUV customers – and the diesel is more likely to be a corporate rather than a retail purchase,” he adds.
As a result of increased demand and the launch of the diesel versions, Honda’s Swindon plant in the UK is geared up to produce some 60,000 CR-Vs for the whole of Europe this year – up from 30,000 last year.
The start of production of diesel CR-Vs coincided with minor exterior and interior styling updates for all versions.
Swindon also builds petrol models for the US – Honda US sources the SUVs from both the UK and Japan.
However, with the next generation model (due around 2007), Honda will switch production of the model for North America to a domestic plant and Swindon will then supply CR-Vs solely for the European market.
Honda expects incremental demand for the new diesel version, especially from European markets like Spain and Italy.
The UK sales arm boosted total 2004 vehicle volume by about 11% to 91,241 units compared with 2003.
