LOS ANGELES — American Honda Automobile Division posted the smallest of gains in April U.S. sales with a 0.1 percent rise on the strength of its Honda and Acura compact crossovers, an assist by its compact car nameplates and rising incentives.
Coming off a record March, light trucks kept the mainstream Honda brand in the black in April, while the upmarket Acura marque slipped on double-digit declines in its car offerings.
Overall, the Honda brand showed a relative balance between light-truck and car sales in a market where crossovers and SUVs command the lion's share of U.S. deliveries. Light-truck sales rose 2.7 percent in April to 60,058 vehicles, while car sales fell 2.4 percent to 54,030.
Acura suffered in the car department, with sales down 17 percent to 3,422 vehicles last month. Sales of Acura light trucks rose 6.2 percent to 8,265 vehicles.
Brands: Honda up 0.2%; Acura down 1.7%
Notable nameplates: Honda Accord, down 12%; Honda Civic, up 0.1%; Honda CR-V, up 0.1%; Honda HR-V, down 0.7%; Honda Passport, a new model, posted sales of 2,907; Acura ILX, up 14%; Acura RDX, up 17%; Acura MDX, down 6.9%.
Incentives: $2,120 per vehicle, up 30% from a year earlier, ALG says.
Average transaction price: $28,072, up 0.3% from a year earlier, according to ALG.
Quote: "The compact SUV segment remains a bright spot for both Honda and Acura brands in 2019, with CR-V the outright retail sales leader in the industry's largest segment, and the Acura RDX the fastest growing model in the compact luxury SUV segment," said Henio Arcangeli Jr., senior vice president of automobile sales at American Honda Motor Co.
Did you know? Sales of Acura's NSX supercar, assembled at a purpose-built facility in Ohio, nearly quintupled to 23 vehicles last month from just five units in April 2018. NSX sales in the first four months of the year rose to 102 vehicles from 72 in the same period last year.
