Honda's website shows $33,400 base and $36,600 Touring. I guess that means Honda wants to sell more Clarity PHEVs even if they don't make a profit on them. Thanks @klaud!
Is it a reasonable assumption that Honda loses money on the Clarity or is there some documentation that shows the loss?
No, Honda never divulges what it costs to make any of their cars. I doubt that any manufacturers reveal this information. There's no way my all-aluminum Insight cost less that $40K to design and build, yet Honda charged me just $22K so I could beta-test the IMA hybrid system for the company. Similarly, look at all the unique aluminum and high-strength steel parts that go into the Clarity--then add in the cost of a giant battery, battery charger, inverters, electric motors, AND a 1.5 liter engine reconfigured to run on the Atkinson cycle. Finally, there's that posh interior--even in the base model. All for about the price of a fancy Accord (Accord Touring MSRP: $35,950).
Yes, once you build the car, they add the $920 destination fee. Honda obviously wants to sell the car in CARB states, that is the reason for hidden cash back of up to $3000 to dealers in these states.
It looks like they just changed all of their cars' prices to exclude the $920 destination charge that was previously included, noted in a tiny asterisk that you have to click on. Pretty slimy Honda... So it's extra important to insist that a dealer give you the "out the door" price with all taxes and fees included, ideally before you set foot in the dealership so you can compare apples to apples. I also ask for the breakdown and double check it -- last time we bought a car the dealer had the sales tax rate wrong (a portion of our ZIP code is in a 0.5% higher rate city, and the dealer's tool comes up with that number. Using an address on the DMV site gives the right rate, which they refunded later manually). You can also see if they're including insurances or add-ons that weren't asked for. The finance guy might still try to add those back on, but it's easier to decline if the initial paperwork doesn't have it.
I am confused. The MSRP's shown above do not include the destination charge. The touring model price (before the destination charge), $36,600, is the same as shown on the window sticker for the Clarity touring we bought over year ago. There was a $30 increase in the destination charge sometime from early 2018 to 2919. The delivered total vehicle price is currently $37,520 for the touring model. The same appears to be true for the base model according to the Honda website link in an earlier post. Maybe there has been no price decrease but the destination charge has been overlooked. Please correct me if I am in error.
JulianClarity is right. The current Touring ($36,600) is the same sticker price as my car (Bought early December). The Sticker does not include the $890 in destination and handling: Touring Price by JustAnotherPoorDriver posted Mar 4, 2019 at 9:15 PM It's been excluding the destination on the website at least since February Additional Features in Touring by JustAnotherPoorDriver posted Feb 2, 2019 at 2:14 PM I wonder if I should demand a partial refund. It says "a full tank of fuel" is free, but while my gas tank was full, my battery was discharged when I picked the car up (quelle surprise)
I think you should pay every one a penny for the 2 seconds of our life that we have wasted reading this statement.
