I think its safe to say Toyotas entry in this market IS the RAV4 , Fords IS the Escape....really if you think about it Honda is late to the party .
"I'd bet they'll take the CMax and grow it into this segment in the next product cycle."
Very interesting idea ...I bet you are right. Ford: I could see them taking a stab at it with this existing model and repackaging it slightly to conform better into the segment.
Toyota had the Scion XB but I think I read its done after this year - so they are bowing out and don't care about this sector ...they also have the RAV4 but I would probably take the HRV over that .... I test drove a late 2014 XB last year and was impressed how close it performed to my 2008 Honda Element (mini sport ute ?) ...HP, driving characteristics etc. were VERY close to each other ...XB was a little noisier inside but not by much at all which I heard was a complaint in numerous articles with the XB ........XB had a cooler looking stereo (but in all fairness there the Element stereo was 6 yrs older) ....Element had 5 spd auto vs the fossil "4" speed auto in the 2014,15 XB which is totally behind the times ..... My Element even at 176k got 22.5 -24 mixed driving mpg sometimes hitting 25 on long highway trips ,,,the XB is rated only 22/28 and I have heard it only gets 24 in real world mixed driving .....
B U T resale value on a Honda will always eek out a Toyota unless we are talking Tacomas or Tundras which have awesome - ridiculous resale values.....I got a really fair price on my Element when I sold it with 176k on it ...ps the only repair in all those miles was an AC condenser fan
....can you say "QUALITY" .
Fords Escape looks interesting but the price / resale value doesn't attract me like a Honda does personally - Fords are usually a dime a dozen in the resale market and tons of them out there for resale ...people it looks like to me hold on to Hondas longer in general which speaks volumes .
I think Honda will only have to fight with the Jeep Renegade in this mini "ute" esque market based on sales numbers. The Jeep already has quality flaws (9 spd auto) but a lot of people buy on looks alone....Soooo the Toyota (RAV4) and Ford (Escape) are probably their only planned entries in this market segment and will obviously lose to the HRV ...... no matter what they do I think Honda will own this segment of the market with the HRV ....