American Honda’s U.S. sales dropped 27 percent in March and 23 percent in the first quarter as availability of both Honda and Acura products continues to be undermined by low parts supplies and other bottlenecks.
March marked the seventh straight monthly U.S. sales decline for Acura and the eighth consecutive decrease at the Honda brand.
“We aren’t out of the woods yet, but we will continue to manage the supply issues to maximize production and help our dealers meet the needs of our customers,” Dave Gardner, executive vice president of business and sales at American Honda, said in a statement.
The Honda HR-V crossover saw its 14th consecutive month of growth. Honda will introduce a new 2023 Honda HR-V specifically for North America on April 4, which should drum up additional interest in the subcompact crossover. Acura’s results were driven primarily by the three-row Acura MDX, which logged its strongest sales since May 2021.
Brands: Honda; down 27 percent in March and 23 percent in the first quarter; Acura, off 26 percent in March and 25 percent in the first quarter.
Notable nameplates: Honda Accord, down 9.8% in first quarter; Civic, down 31%; HR-V, up 61%; CR-V, down 38%; Ridgeline, down 27%; Acura TLX, off 51%; RDX, down 32%
Incentives: $1,172 per vehicle, down 50% from a year earlier, TrueCar says.
Average transaction price: $36,451 in the fourth quarter, up 17% from a year earlier, according to TrueCar.
Did you know? With gasoline prices elevated, Honda is leaning on sales of electrified models by making hybrid variants of the CR-V compact crossover and Accord more readily available. The Accord Hybrid set a monthly high of 4,857 sales in March, according to Honda. The CR-V hybrid also had a record month with 6,932 sales, helping push the entire CR-V lineup to nearly 30,000 sales.