Art St. Cyr
Vice President, Automobile Operations, American Honda Motor Co., Inc.
Good morning, everyone. It's great to be back in Detroit. My last visit was in June, when our Honda-powered Indy Car teams swept the dual on Belle Isle.
I know we're all looking forward to next June and a different kind of "Dual in Detroit", the Detroit Grand Prix and the new Detroit Auto Show. And I think Steve and Sage will back me up, Honda will be here in force for both.
But now let's get to the business at hand – the unveiling of our new 2020 CR-V Hybrid, our first hybrid-electric SUV for the Honda brand.
A few months back, our sales leader, Henio Arcangeli, spoke at an APA lunch about our "cars still matter" story. Honda took over as America's retail #1 passenger car brand in 2018 and this year we've picked up more share than any other mainstream brand, with nearly 20 percent of the retail market. Cars are still major volume players in our lineup, at around 47 percent of our mix.
They're also critical for bringing new young buyers to our brand, with Civic as the best-selling model, car or light truck to Millennials, to Gen Z and to multicultural buyers. And Accord is close behind in all the same categories.
But this morning, I want to focus on several other key aspects of the business – fortifying our light truck lineup, asserting Honda's leadership in vehicle safety, and expanding our electrified vehicle portfolio and the CR-V Hybrid speaks to each of these areas.
On light trucks in the past year, we had major refreshes for the ‘19 Pilot and HR-V, and we launched an all-new Passport. These models along with continued strong results for CR-V, have been driving our growth.
We've booked 7 straight years of record sales for Honda SUVs and CUVs with 9 years of continuous growth.
And while minivans aren't the story of the day, as a former development leader for the Odyssey, I have to mention that the current Odyssey is now running at 43 percent of retail minivan sales. And it's on track to be the #1 minivan in America for the 10th straight year.
On safety, we're moving aggressively to fulfill our Safety for Everyone commitment, which includes making Honda Sensing standard on every vehicle in our lineup. We now have over 2.5 million Honda Sensing-equipped-vehicles on U.S. roads, which is helping reduce both the frequency and severity of collisions.
These technologies are also helping build customer understanding and confidence for the highly automated vehicles of the future.
For the 2020 CR-V, we're bringing Honda Sensing down to our LX Trim, which will take us to 90% application of Honda Sensing for the Honda lineup.
Finally, on electrification, we're moving to electrify virtually all of our core models, cars and light trucks.
By 2030, we want two-thirds of our global vehicle sales to come from electrified products, as part of our effort to reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions. We're approaching this challenge with a realistic view of both a gradually evolving market and the business challenges that still remain in bringing electrified products into the mainstream.
Our main focus will be hybrids, accounting for around half of global sales by 2030.
But there will be growing numbers of BEVs as well, as we target 15 percent all-electric vehicles in that same time frame.
The Honda E that we're getting ready to launch in Europe and Japan is a great example of how we can make exciting and appealing BEVs that are unique to Honda.
We recently showed a new Honda EV architecture, based on these same ideas, great styling and packaging, accommodating rear- or all-wheel drive and enabling performance, utility and range to meet U.S. market needs.
And using this architecture, we intend to introduce appealing and affordable BEVs for the U.S. market in the years ahead.
For the immediate future, however, we see hybrids as the best way to bring electrified powertrains further and more quickly into the mainstream and in the process, we are creating customers for the full-electric vehicles of the future.
With our two-motor system, we can significantly improve fuel economy and lower GHG emissions while also delivering the performance, refinement and utility that our customers need and expect.
So, with all of these things in mind, strengthening light trucks, advancing safety and expanding electrification, it's my pleasure to introduce the all-new CR-V Hybrid!
This new CR-V brings electrification to our best-selling model, building on 22 years of CR-V success and market leadership.
The first-gen CR-V arrived in 1997 as one of the first of a new breed of crossovers, before the word even existed.
Over five generations, CR-V has steadily evolved and brought a whole generation of Honda buyers along with it.
It's the outright best-selling crossover in America over the past 22 years. In fact, we're just shy of the 5-million-mark for U.S. sales, which we'll hit sometime in the next month or two.
Of course, there is no shortage of competition today but we're happy to see CR-V still winning comparisons against new models like the RAV4, which goes to show how far ahead of its time our 5th-gen CR-V really was.
But time stands still for no car, so we've made some important improvements for 2020.
First, our LX trim now gets the 1.5-liter VTEC turbo engine that's already in our EX and higher trims, which means more power, torque, and fuel economy.
Second, as I mentioned before, Honda Sensing will be standard. These are two big upgrades for LX, which makes up about a quarter of all CR-V sales.
All CR-Vs also get design updates, including a new grille and new lighting designs for all trims, new projectors for LX, EX and EX-L, and new LED headlights and fog lights for Touring.
In back, smoked taillights, new darker chrome trim and a darker rear glass create a more sophisticated look. And Touring adds new dual chrome exhaust finishers as well.
There are also new 18-inch wheel designs for EX and EX-L, and for Touring grades, we've redesigned and upsized the wheel and tire from 18 to 19 inches.
For the hybrid, we have unique 5-lamp LED fog lights and a blue Honda logo, and in back we've got concealed exhaust finishers. And, of course, there's hybrid badging on the front quarters and tailgate.
Moving inside, there's a redesigned center console for all grades with more conveniently placed USB ports and more flexible storage. Our Touring trim also gets wireless charging, wood accents, and a heated steering wheel.
For the Hybrid, there's an exclusive push-button gear selector, drive mode buttons, and steering wheel paddles to select regen braking levels and also a new driver's meter, and remote engine start for all trims.
Moving to the hybrid powertrain, CR-V gets the latest version of our two-motor system. It's very similar in design to the Accord Hybrid, with a 2.0-liter Atkinson cycle engine operating primarily as an electric generator with two motors, a generator motor, and a 181-horsepower drive motor.
Peak system output is 212 horsepower and 232 lb-ft of torque.
EPA ratings aren't final, but we're expecting a substantial increase in efficiency over the gas model – almost 50% in the city. This will make the CR-V Hybrid the most refined, quickest off the line, and of course most fuel-efficient CR-V in our lineup.
Additionally, it spends a relatively high amount of time in EV mode compared to the competition, adding to around-town efficiency.
With the batteries packaged under the rear floor, the CR-V Hybrid retains the same great utility as the gasoline model, with folding-flat rear seats… and the same top-class rear passenger comfort.
It's also worth noting that this is our first Honda Hybrid with all-wheel-drive. In fact, all-wheel-drive will be standard on all hybrid trims.
In terms of the trim lineup, the Hybrid will look just like the gasoline model, from LX up to Touring.
And as you can see on the slide, we've got hybrid-exclusive features on all trims and all that detail is captured in your press materials as well.
Now, in terms of on-sale, the gas-powered model will launch this fall, and it will continue to be produced at four plants in North America, in Ohio, Indiana and Canada.
The new Hybrid will follow early next year, and pricing and EPA numbers for each will be coming out a little closer to launch.
One final piece of news, and this is especially timely, given that just last week we marked 40 years of building products in America.
Our new CR-V Hybrid for the U.S. market will be built exclusively at Honda Manufacturing of Indiana.
We're investing an additional $4.2 million and creating 34 new jobs to support production of the CR-V Hybrid in Indiana, with production starting early next year.
This will be our third U.S.-made hybrid, along with the two cars here in the room – Insight, also made in Indiana and Accord, from our Marysville Auto Plant.
Our Ohio transmission plant will supply the two-motor unit for CR-V, and the Anna Engine Plant will make its 2.0-liter engine.
As you can see, as we advance electrification through our core model lineup, so, too, are we advancing our ability to produce electrified vehicles and components at our plants here in America. And, this is key to the future of our electrification strategy.
So that's our story today.
We're making important strides with this new CR-V to support light truck growth, to advance our commitment to safety, and move us forward into the electrified future.
Before I invite you up for a closer look, we're going take 30 seconds to reposition the car for better photos.
Thanks, everyone!
# # #
