North Poll aka Canada ;): Clarity delivery ETA wait times

Sounds like a fish tale.
There were plenty for the U.S. market.
No way Honda Canada didn't know that the Volt and Prius Prime were selling.
Every model year gets discontinued so the next one to come in.
Getting into a new market is going to cost money, not only that they may have a corporate conscience, Honda is still making money.

 

Maybe. But that came from Honda's financial services manager (the guy who does financing and warranties). His orders are getting cancelled left and right because of the lack of supply.

Honda Canada won't say it as it is. They screwed up. There are no real other explanations as to why the base models are not being produced. If they can't produce this year, their sales will drop after the Ontaroo incentives come to an end.

 

I would not be surprised to learn that Honda is losing $$ on the Clarity. Honda spends lots on R&D and marketing. They certainly were not making money from the FC version and may be viewing the whole Clarity project in those terms. It's also not unlikely that Honda managed to grossly under estimate Clarity demand in Canada. Canada has 1/10th the population of the US. But there appear to be some very aggressive incentives in several Provinces which make the Clarity very attractive (I think it's attractive with just my $7.5k tax credit).

 

The finance manager is the slickest salesman on the floor.
No doubt the dealers are doubting Honda will supply more cars because they were told back in feb/march or earlier that each dealer would only get a certain number and the dealers sold them all.
All that other stuff is just story he can tell to pass away the day and explain things.

 

Anyone hear anything about that special Honda Clarity announcement yet from Honda Canada?

 

What news is that?

 

From last week

 

You are being far to vague. Tell us when, when, when.

 

I suspect this will read something to the effect of :

"Honda Canada is very exciting with the interest in our Clarity Model. We thank you for your business and hope everyone enjoys their new Honda vehicles!"

 

As the crowd of those with base model deposits stare on in disbelief.
At least Tesla communicates and lays it out.

 

See the above quotes about an announcement this week, and updated VINs and ETAs on May 22nd.

 

Today is May 22nd, anyone hear anything?

 

Yea, I didn't get a vin but was told I'd be getting a touring not a base.

Also didn't get a color, but was told it's coming first week of June as planned.

 

It is the first day of the work week after a long weekend. I don’t expect the announcement to come until later in the week.

But I also expect it to be vague and ambiguous like Chris Messer alluded to.


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Are they making you pay the difference? Seems kinda crappy to come back and say you can get it but have to pay several K more.

 

For me, with all the bad news and rumours I'm hearing, I'm almost willing to fork out several K more just to get the car.

Something I noticed on cargurus with the 525 VIN. It lists seat memory. It even lists that on the spinelli Honda website. Wonder if it was in error or there is something weird going on. Also for VINs, if they are sequential and April Canada numbers show that as of the end of April less than 400 were sold, why are the VINs so high?

Sent an email to my dealer today hoping to have more information on ETA and such (March order Base Grey for me)

 

I assume he wouldn’t have to pay the extra.

Most provinces have legislation forbidding this type of bait and switch sales tactics.

If they make him pay the extra $4k, they would ultimately owe it back to him plus potentially additional damages if he complains to the competition bureau. If they give him the touring and eat the $4k, no risk of damages and customer has ability to say no if they really don’t want the touring.


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They are, but they were very clear before that they were not sure what car was coming in. I didn't actually order a car, but rather was told they had one coming in and so I put down a deposit for it, with the understanding that it is fully refundible and could be for a base or a touring.

Now it is a white exterior, which's a bit annoying! But oh well.

 

In that case I wouldn’t have any issues with the dealership now asking you to pay for a touring. It sounds you you effectively ordered ‘whichever arrives first’.


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Called my dealership today. Richmond Hill Honda is still clueless. No info from Honda Canada. They seem to be under the assumption that Honda will only stop producing base plug-in models but will continue with the touring. I've been "next in line" for a week now, but there is no way to confirm if they are telling the truth or not. No real high hopes. Pretty sure the Ontario 13k incentive is going to drop after the election as well.

People who ordered the base plug-in have been waiting since January. I ordered on April 5th, awaiting a touring. Color is a non-issue for anyone waiting at the moment, because they will just jump on the car regardless of color.

The dealership told me they made a deal with another touring buyer last week, so they are still taking deposits from people who are interested. Is that indicative of anything? Why would they continue to accept deals if they know Honda isn't meeting the high demand?