Honda light truck sales set record, but the automaker’s count includes crossovers, SUVs—and they’re still selling a lot of cars, too

By Bill Hayward

Although it isn’t built on a traditional body-on frame platform, it would be a stretch to try to claim that the Honda Ridgeline isn’t a truck. But is Honda’s classification of the CR-V and HR-V crossovers as “light trucks” also a stretch? Photo: Honda Newsroom.

In an announcement issued January 3, Honda credited “record” Honda light truck sales for driving a lean increase of 0.3 percent in overall U.S. sales of all categories of Honda-brand vehicles for 2019.

Sales in Honda’s light truck category were up 3.4 percent for the year, according to the announcement.

Interestingly, however, the automaker included the Honda HR-V and CR-V, both crossover models, among its “truck” sales to arrive at their claim of a record year in the light-truck category.

As of the end of 2019, the automaker reports the following figures to arrive at a total of 786,812 in Honda light truck sales:

  • Honda CR-V: 384,168
  • Honda HR-V: 99,104
  • Honda Odyssey: 99,113
  • Honda Passport: 36,085
  • Honda Pilot: 135,008
  • Honda Ridgeline: 33,334

The Honda lineup—including the Ridgeline pickup truck—does not feature any vehicles built on a traditional body-on-frame truck platform.

While it’s likely that only the staunchest purist would try to make a case that the Ridgeline isn’t a pickup truck, it is arguably questionable to include the CR-V and HR-V unibody crossovers in the “light truck” category.

In fact, you can even make a case that construction on a car platform rather than a truck platform is part of the very definition of a crossover.

This suggests that reporting these two models among Honda light truck sales may be more of a positioning move on Honda’s part.

That’s understandable given some of the challenges that Honda faces in trying to earn some credibility in the truck category. The unibody-constructed Honda Ridgeline, while well-respected among automotive critics, struggles to resonate with consumers matching the profile of the buyer of the traditional body-on-frame pickup.

It’s hard to imagine being able to persuade a Ford F-150 owner to trade in his or her pickup for a Honda Ridgeline, for example.

That’s reflected in the sales figures. At under 35,000 units sold for 2019 vs. comparable-vehicle U.S. sales such as 248,801 units for the Toyota Tacoma at year-end 2019 and 96,820 units for the Chevrolet Colorado through September 2019 alone, the Honda Ridgeline isn’t even close to being a strong competitor in the U.S. pickup-truck market.

However, what is arguably more interesting within Honda’s 2019 sales story is their continuing persistence and success in the passenger car market, as U.S. automakers continue to all but exit the segment and go all-in on SUVs and crossovers.

In the passenger car space, Honda continues to offer a deep lineup that includes the Accord, Civic, Clarity, CR-Z, Fit, and Insight. Honda tallied sales of 663,973 cars in 2019, including 267,567 Accords and 325,650 Civics.

Not too shabby, considering the supposed overall market environment when it comes to passenger cars.

So, GM and Ford, didn’t we just hear you say something about the U.S. market not wanting passenger cars any more? Um, you might want to re-think that while hundreds of thousands of Honda Accords and Honda Civics eat your lunch.

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