Kyle Johnson
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Honda’s September Sales are Robust, Record-Setting, Robust

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2017 Honda HR-V

2017 Honda HR-V

How good were Honda’s sales in September? So good that the automaker was compelled to use the word “robust” three times in its annunciatory press release. Also, so good that the word annunciatory was just used in a sentence. Honda’s sales were so good in September that the mere act of reading it has made my vocabulary markedly more rich—or, if you will (and you should), robust. It’s a demonstrable fact, as you shall soon behold.

Cumulative sales of Honda and Acura vehicles in September were actually down marginally at 133,655 deliveries, but the sales of all Honda Division vehicles and of American Honda trucks and SUVs both set September records with respective gains of 1.5% and 8.5%. A most vigorous campaign, to be certain.

Honda Division sales totaled 120,842 vehicles, increasing on the strength of stalwart performances from the Fit (5,068 units, up 296.2%), CR-V (31,884 units, up 6.5%), and HR-V (6,853 units, up 48.7%). The CR-V and HR-V were the primary growth drivers for Honda Division truck sales, which were up 8.6% at a total of 60,220 units delivered, a figure hearty enough to score a new September record in the annals of history and bring about much joy and revelry in the various and sundry corners in which Honda’s principals, underlings, and devotees dwell. Even the darkest, coldest heart will be freed from the blight of despondencies upon hearing this evidence inculpatory of Honda’s triumph.

2017 Honda Civic Hatchback

The hatch-backed version of the 2017 Honda Civic

Honda Division car sales were down 4.6% at 60,622 units, but Jeff Conrad, Honda Division’s senior vice president and general manager, posits that the reemergence of the beloved Civic Hatchback within the brand’s lineup portends a litany of successes yet to be unfurled.

“The return of a new Civic Hatchback to the Honda brand adds a fresh dimension to an already robust car lineup for 2017,” said Conrad. “The expanding 10th-generation Civic roster brings new energy to the car side of our business even as our trucks continue with steady gains.”

Acura car sales were less auspicious with a 39.4% year-over-year decline. All models but the NSX supercar incurred a loss of sales, with 38 units of the prodigious performance vehicle delivered to what one can only assume to be well-heeled and ambitious individuals whose lack of social grace is countered only by the degree to which they are affluent.

The 2017 Acura MDX will go on sale in the US tomorrow and will feature a starting MSRP of $43,950

2017 Acura MDX

Acura SUV sales were significantly more emboldening, up 8.4% at a total of 8,849 units delivered. Sales of the MDX increased by 14.3% at 4,930 units, and sales of the RDX were up 1.8% at 3,910 units. Exemplary.

The success of the refreshed MDX, the first model to showcase the new Acura styling direction, is further validation of Acura’s Precision Crafted Performance brand direction,” said Jon Ikeda, vice president and general manager of the Acura division. “Step-by-step we are amping up performance as a signature for the brand and a clear point of difference over the competition.”

Ah, amping up indeed.

Comprehensively speaking, Honda Division’s sales in the United States through nine months are up 3.3% at 1,228,380 units delivered. There is certainly a word that could describe this insuperable figure, one that appeals to the senses with a palpable intuiting of strength and brawn. One that might be commonly tethered to a drink concocted by blending hot water and the grounds of a great, brown bean.

Let the possibility of that word, aching to be spoken from tongue and teeth, comfort you as you read Honda’s sales sheet from last month. May these numbers, too, bring accord to your personal disunity, insight to your civic illiteracy, and fit and finish to the unpolished tale of your Homerian odyssey. Also, may it bring RLX to your ILX and TLX to your CR-V, because nomenclature.

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