Honda Clarity, Never Heard of It.

Discussion in 'Clarity' started by Teslawannabe, Aug 11, 2019.

To remove this ad click here.

  1. Teslawannabe

    Teslawannabe Active Member

    I have been saying great things about my recently acquired Honda Clarity to people I know. One person I spoke to has two Toyota Prius's. He hasn't had time to even go for a ride yet but surprisingly today when I spoke with him he said he stopped by the Honda dealer to check into one and they said they had never heard of it! Now I know that is not a surprise to us here on the forum but it is a very, very sad state of affairs for Honda. I'm just saying.....:-(
     
  2. To remove this ad click here.

  3. Savido

    Savido New Member

    No surprise. My guess is Honda is investing few resources into the promotion of the Clarity and we are all a part of their research and development of future electric cars. This is okay with me as I really like my car and the natural resources I preserve by driving and owning it. I believe electric cars today are transition vehicles between ICE and the highly efficient EVs of the future. I enjoyed my cassette tapes and Blackberry too. If this is Honda’s strategy, it’s a smart one. Playing the long game with EVs is the best bet.
     
    2002 and TomL like this.
  4. V8Power

    V8Power Active Member

    Another reason why the Tesla business model sells many cars directly online to bypass the increasingly ineffective and costly dealer layer.
     
    TomL likes this.
  5. Ryan C

    Ryan C Member

    They need some sort of affiliate program. Ive been taking everyone I know on test drives and I can’t stop singing this cars praises. I’m at 177.7 mpg and have only used a quarter tank in 2.5 weeks. This car is such an amazing bridge tech to whatever’s next. I’ve been getting a lot of surveys about the car and I fill out every one that I can.
     
  6. Johnhaydev

    Johnhaydev Active Member

    Just curious, which state did this occur in?
     
  7. To remove this ad click here.

  8. fotomoto

    fotomoto Active Member

    I think this might be more a reflection of the state of professional knowledge by the average sales droid that rotate in/out of most dealerships. Ten years ago, I had a Toyota sales rep tell me when the 2010 Prius ICE started up the first time (approx. 12 secs after the car is turned on) while in the parking lot that it was, and I quote, "That's the battery starting." I truly bit my lip to keep from laughing. :D
     
  9. Lowell_Greenberg

    Lowell_Greenberg Active Member

    The irony of the Clarity PHEV is that what probably contributes to its scarcity is what makes it a great buy- Honda is probably losing money on each sale, with the goal of getting ZEV credits to compensate. It is a kind of loss leader- that is still a winner.

    Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk
     
  10. 2002

    2002 Well-Known Member

    I doubt if Honda loses money on each sale, they may very well lose money when they give $5-$6K dealer incentives but that has mainly been in California (and Oregon back when they had cars) although as you said that is somewhat (or fully) offset by ZEV credits. But they shipped a whole bunch of 2019 cars to the east coast in January and have shipped no more since (all to California after approx VIN #1,000) but they don't offer any factory incentives that we know of on the east coast, I am guessing that's because they are able to hit their ZEV targets without Clarity in those states, so no need to lose money in those states. After seven months there are still cars sitting on the lots there, although they have also sold quite a few but apparently not enough at "normal" prices so they no longer ship to east coast anymore.

    Meanwhile in the other 40 states where they only shipped 2018's the cars sat for a long time and are not completely sold out yet, but getting close. In some areas like mine in Georgia there were big discounts on 2018's starting in spring, which we have never confirmed if some of the discounts came from Honda. In Georgia I bought my 2018 Touring in April with a $7,500 discount, someone recently just purchased a 2018 Base in Florida with 6 miles on it for a $9,500 discount. So in those cases yes probably someone is losing money, either Honda or the dealer or both. But when there are no extra dealer incentives I presume Honda makes at least some profit or they would not have make them available in the 40 states where they have no regulatory pressure to sell PHEV's. Unless as some have theorized they needed economy of scale, but I'm not sure how much loss they would be willing to accept for that.
     
    Last edited: Aug 15, 2019
  11. Teslawannabe

    Teslawannabe Active Member

    It was in SW Florida.
     
  12. To remove this ad click here.

  13. Teslawannabe

    Teslawannabe Active Member

    That thought came to mind first. Could have been a newly hired salesman, or anybody for that matter.
     
  14. Teslawannabe

    Teslawannabe Active Member

    Follow up, it's been almost two months since I went to the dealership to look at the base Clarity. They have called me three times to see if I still was shopping. I told them I already purchased a Touring Clarity. I sent someone to the same dealership and he went for a test drive. During his time at the dealership someone yelled out to the salesman to come in, someone was waiting at his desk and just dumped the person interested in the Clarity. Not a good report. But yet they just called me yesterday. Hmmm
    Sent from my SM-N960U using Inside EVs mobile app
     

Share This Page