[TrueNorth]

Aside from talking about the HR-V in particular, it seems that any vehicle in the CUV segment is likely to do well when it comes to sales. To put it in perspective, the small crossover segment grew by 127,095 units to 602,088 in the first quarter of 2014 when compared to the same segment last year.

The small crossover segment is gaining so much steam that it could surpass the sedan segment as the best selling-segment in the US soon. The small crossover segment accounted for 15.9 percent of the US market in the first three months of 2014, which is up from 12.9 percent in the same period in 2013.

Within this hot segment, Honda leads with the CR-V. In the US, CR-V sales rose from 18,232 in January up to 28,485 in April. That makes it the front runner in the segment with the Ford Escape in second with 24,579.

Given that the CR-V is basically a bigger version of the HR-V, I think that everything is set-up for the HR-V to do really, really well.

Any car maker that isn't trying to get involved in this segment may be risking losing significant market share if the sedan segment continues to lose ground to the small crossover segment in the future.

 

[vtec]

Coming the sales of the CRV to Escape isn't too bad at all especially since the Escape gets fleet sales, not sure if the CRV does, which I would doubt

 

[cfrp]

did not know the equinox sold so well

 

[TrueNorth]

MINI Paceman sales are pretty pathetic. Only 169, that's sad.

I don't see fleet sales in the HR-V's future. I'm just not sure who would be buying them a a fleet vehicle.

 

[vtec]

It is, Mini wants to expand too into other models, they better make sure they make the right decisions and even cut what ever isn't doing well, like the paceman

 

[Red]

Mini is niche. They never EVER aimed for Honda volume. For all you know its beating internal sales projections. Fleet sales count for rental sales as well as company vehicle programs.

 

[TrueNorth]

No auto company would be happy with less than 200 models selling though, except maybe Bentley or something. I can't see how they would not nix the Paceman with sales like that.

Is the HRV going to sell more more than the CRV do you think? Are the smaller or bigger CUVs more popular?

 

[vtec]

Unless it's some super cool, statement making, limited production, etc model which they have intents of making 200 units of, then it's worth it. But of course that's not the case here, in this case they should chop models like that or revamp them to get better sales.

 

[Red]

Again Mini is not in the volume game. I don't get why that makes no sense to you. Some companies just don't have the capacity to produce at those levels profitably. Not every company is Honda with streamlined global operations and multiple facilities cracking out the same models across the globe. Not to mention the marketing budget Honda commands for one vehicle likely dwarfs MINI's entire brands budget...

 

[vtec]

Again Mini is not in the volume game. I don't get why that makes no sense to you. Some companies just don't have the capacity to produce at those levels profitably. Not every company is Honda with streamlined global operations and multiple facilities cracking out the same models across the globe. Not to mention the marketing budget Honda commands for one vehicle likely dwarfs MINI's entire brands budget...

This is true, not every brand needs to sell every vehicle in the masses, it does help to have some lower volume unique products in the line up.

 

[Ganbare]

I think the HR-V will be a success for Honda, but will not not sell anywhere close to CR-V levels just as the Fit sells well below the Civic. Americans just prefer larger cars. I do think it will sell much better than the Nissan Juke as it is a much roomier and practical vehicle. Ultimately I think it will cannibalize some Fit and CR-V sales but also bring in some new Honda buyers, even more so if the decide to release the hybrid version here.

In its home market of Japan, the Vezel's size and available hybrid powertrain has proved to be extremely popular and outsells the large by Japanese standards CR-V almost 30 to 1. In fact, the Vezel now stands at #18 of the best selling cars in Japan. I'm sure it won't come close to that in the US, but I think it will shake up the small crossover market quite a bit.