Automotive Forums

Any fearless predictions on Honda's latest market segment invasion sinking or swimming?

They've been stretching this Accord platform pretty thin, and it's been working so far.  It made the Odyssey, that worked.  Made some Acuras, those all worked.  It even made a pair of SUVs, the Pilot and MDX, and those worked like a dream.

But even though pickups are all about image, isn't that image based on being able to do...  TRUCK STUFF?  A front-drive-based, unibody, independently suspended, V6 weakling can't tow, can't haul, and can't go off-road.

Think it'll work?  

Mazda supposedly still sells those crappy B-series pickups, maybe Honda felt the segment could use some competiton. I'd say stack up the numbers, I come from an area where a pickup truck is a necessity because people actually use them for their added utility. Now in the good ole OC I see a bunch of hollywood cowboys(that's what I call them) driving around in large pickup trucks and not using that utility. They don't haul, they don't tow, and they sure as hell don't go off-road(unless involved in a unfortunate accident). I'd say the Honda Ridgeline will do good in metropolitan areas, not much more is needed.
 

News: the Ridgeline starts at $28 grand.  Uh, you can get a V8 Tundra, F-150, Silverado, Ram, or Titan for that price.  Yet the Ridgeline is sized and powered like any of those mid-sized pickups that all start at $20K.  Even the Frontier outpowers it.

Honda tripped.  

If one takes a closer look they might see that there are only two doors on those cheaper, better trucks. Now let's say we tack on another two doors on the F-150 and call it a supercrew and then we see that MSRP of around 31-36k what a value! Honda has a V6 quad cab that is comparably priced and as much of a fan of American trucks that I am, I'll still give Honda props for making a truck that serves a much more practical purpose than its ginormous American counterpart. So yeah, there's some news.
 

You also must relize that the Mazda B series pickups are really made by Ford. All the parts arew the same on a Ranger.  

I wonder when the '07 Ridgeline will come out.  That should drop the price on the 06 models...but then again we are talking about Honda...  

I think Honda'll do fine. The company thinks in decades, remember? They'll realize the Ridgeline's price was too high, restyle the next generation similar to last year's SEMA show, and look into more powerful powertrains. Two, three generations and they'll be as common as common as Lincoln Marks LT's in SoCal. (The Ridgeline's a specialized truck, remember?)