Honda bets on ‘quirky’ new cars to reverse European slump
In this context, he explained, Honda is “lucky that we are smaller” than rivals, because “if you enter into the battleground of mainstream models, it’s a very difficult market. We see that with a lot of manufacturers.”
De Jaeger didn’t go so far as to suggest Honda would bow out of the highly competitive C-segment, in which it fields the Civic hatchback and CR-V and HR-V crossovers, but said: “The key point for us is the USP of our product and how we can explain to our customers about that,”
This is particularly important, De Jaeger added, in the context of new entrants taking a rapidly increasing share of the European car market at the expense of legacy brands’.
“We have to admit that Chinese competition is very severe and we have to adapt – but also we have to bring products which customers want,” he said.
He highlighted that Honda already has a “very high” customer retention rate, so the Super-N’s role is primarily one of conquest, as “the entry model for young people to understand what Honda stands for”.
De Jaeger also emphasised that Honda is “a little bit atypical” in terms of its car business being just one strand of a global empire that also produces motorcycles, power tools, garden equipment, marine motors and more. This means the brand is successful and well known far outside the automotive market and can investigate “how we can bring these customers also towards the automobile business or vice versa”.
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