At this moment there are four plants in North America making Honda CR-V’s to keep up with American demand.
In an enthusiasts world, everyone would drive RWD cars with five-speed manuals and slow cars would stay out of the left lane. But this isn’t an enthusiasts world, people prefer CUV’s with CVT’s and they’ll park themselves in the left lane whether you like it or not. Nowhere is this more evident than what Honda has done at one of their plants (not the left lane part) According to The Columbus Dispatch from their business report of the Japanese giant slaying it in sales earlier today (Jan 1, 2019) Honda switched some lines traditionally making Honda Accords for decades to Honda CR-V’s just to keep up with demand. All in all, there are now four plants in North America that make CR-V’s further driving home the point that, although sedans aren’t dead, it’s CUV’s that are keeping car companies on their feet.
Honda didn’t always just build Honda Accords in their Marysville, OH plant but if there’s any car that had a major impact on the local economy of that Ohio town, it was the Honda Accord. Honda’s Marysville plant has been making Accords since 1982 with this year marking 37 years of Accord. Honda’s Marysville, OH plant has built other cars at their plant, breaking from Accord tradition in 1998 when they introduced the Acura TL to their factory lines, but Accords where the first.
A quick look at Honda’s November sales shows that CR-V, by far, outsells every one of their other offerings at 31,488 CR-V’s with Accord a distant second at 23,367 Accords (which is still a lot.)
And according to GoodCarBadCar, Honda is on pace to sell just as many CR-V’s as they did last year, if not more. Last year Honda sold 378,600 CR-V’s in the United States alone. We’ll find out the official number when December figures drop sometime in the next few days.
With the 2019 Honda Passport slated to be on sale later this year, Honda will have a strong SUV lineup that includes HR-V, Odyssey, Pilot, Ridgeline, Passport and over at Acura, MDX, and RDX.
The CR-V starts at an MSRP of $24,350. Optional is a 1.5L turbo good for 190 HP and 179 lb-ft.
Source: The Columbus Dispatch
