Honda CEO takes responsibility for 2012 Civic’s poor reception in the U.S.

Here’s a bit of news that may be a bit depressing if you just purchased the new Civic. Honda‘s CEO Takanobu Ito says that he takes personal responsibility for the redesigned 2012 Civic’s poor reception and sales performance in the United States since the car launched in April.

“The ultimate responsibility rests with me,” Ito said top the press at the 2011 Tokyo Motor Show. “We take inputs from the various markets with sincerity…and try to work out the best actions for what we have observed. Those decisions rest with me.”

Sales of the Honda Civic have fell more than 15 percent to 183,557 units in the United States during the first 10 months of 2011.

For the first time in 10 years, the Honda Civic was left off of the list of ‘recommended’ vehicles by Consumer Reports magazine. The publication said it could not recommend the vehicle due to the poor quality of its cheap interior plastics. A review by the Wall Street Journal called the Civic redesign ‘a betrayal.’

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So what is Ito going to do to fix it? Honda is planning to speed up the mid-cycle change for the Civic as early as next year for the 2013 model year – that’s 1 year ahead of schedule.

– By: Roman Bronfenbrener

Source: Automotive News