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By Parks McCants Jun 6 2014 - 9:56am

Redesigned 2015 Honda Fit will drive North America new car sales

For April Fit was American Honda Motors best selling car in North America. Torque News-Honda believes that Fit will be Honda's best selling car for 2015. We take a closer look at the numbers.
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With Honda and Toyota going head to head in a slowly recovering U.S. economy, Honda is betting on Fit to lead North America in new retail car sales.

There's no doubt about it, following the rather harsh winter of 2013-2014, North America has dug out of the snow drift and purchased a new car or two. Early spring sales were flat for Honda and Toyota and then the # 1 automotive manufacturer on the planet recorded its best sales month in 6 years. Good for Toyota.

None the less, Honda countered back with a double-digit record sales month in Asia and China, with a 9% increase in company wide new car sales for April. However, North America retail sales took a minor dive, recording a -1.7% in sales year to date. What we’re talking about here is a handful of new cars. The 2015 Honda Fit will be the shining light at the end of the tunnel.

2015 Fit best selling car in Honda lineup

According to Honda, Fit is the industry's best selling car for April 2014. The trend continues with the announcement of Honda’s roadside assistance program for 2015.

We believe that Fit is staged to replace Honda Civic as the best selling compact car in North America, there are a couple of reasons for that. Taking a close look at the 2014 Honda Civic sedan, we find a compact economy car that has grown in size and price over the years.

Consumer demand for comfort, size and performance has super-sized the Civic out of its original segment. It’s no longer a sub-compact and you can’t buy a North America built Civic in a 5 door hatch verrient. While North America driving enthusiasts lust for a 5 door Civic hatch or Type R, you won’t find one driving down the roads of Canada or the U.S. anytime soon.

Don’t shed a tear for the Honda loyal.

Long gone is the day of the $15,000 Civic. That’s where the 2015 hocho in Mexico Fit jumps into the picture. This value packed, tech-rich, benchmark setting wonder is taking the North American entry-level new car market by storm. With a base msrp of $15,525, the Fit LX is priced just $100 more than the outgoing model. While Fit is not a tire burner, it does offer spacious( 52.7 c.f.) refined accommodations for 5 and class-leading seating and storage facility.

We’ve interviewed several Fit owners. They all seem to have one thing in common; they love the Fit.

Torque News-Honda likes the 2015 Fit for its 1.5 liter “Earth Dreams” i-VTEC 4 cylinder engine and CVT transmission. Producing a stated 130 hp and 114 ft-lb torque, the Fit provides a fun driving experience while sipping gasoline(33/41/36 epa combined.) The redesign has taken Fit to a new visual level for 2015.

Honda has improved the overall ergonomics of the Fit, driving characteristics, safety crumple zone, while increasing horsepower by 11% and torque by 7.5%. The touch screen dash monitor, improved interior “soft surfaces” and the only backup camera in its segment makes Fit an exceptional new car value.

Bottom Line: For your dollar spent, the Fit arguably provides the greatest value in its segment while retaining Honda quality and residual retail value. How does Fit compare to the competition?

We’re still looking...

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Comments

Robert wrote on June 6, 2014 - 7:25pm
My only disappointment is that it doesn't come with the new earth dreams 1.5L turbo.
chris wrote on June 7, 2014 - 6:50am
Maybe more power is your thing but every car I owned that had a turbo broke down on me at around 80-100k miles. Expensive repairs mind you. I'm glad this doesn't have turbo.
Joh wrote on June 7, 2014 - 12:26pm
I couldn't agreed more! Turbo is just too costly to maintain which is a big deal if plan to keep the car in the long run. Honestly, I don't need turbo at all since it doesn't always make me happy so there!
Parks McCants wrote on June 7, 2014 - 7:28pm
There is talk of a turbo charged Fit in the not to distant future. This will be interesting to watch.
Robert wrote on June 7, 2014 - 7:41pm
I respect your concern, but now that Honda and Toyota (with their Lexus 2.0) have entered the new era of turbos, I am less concerned. Out of curiosity, what makes or years did you have such trouble with?
Tom Croly wrote on June 6, 2014 - 10:53pm
The number of misstatements and outright misinformation in the article is too much to list. But allow to correct the most egregious errors: 1 the Honda Fit was not Americam Honda's best selling car in April or in any month ever. The Fit sells at a rate of about a fifth of Accords, Civics, and CR-Vs 2.The Fit is not positioned to take over for the Civic. The Civic sells at annual quantities of more the 300,000 units per year, while Honda hopes for 70,000 annual unit sales for the Fit. 3. the 2015 fit does not offer 57.3 cubic feet in any specification. The cargo area measures 53.7 cubic feet. 4. Horsepower and Torque for the 2015 Fit were not increased by 17%.
Parks McCants wrote on June 7, 2014 - 7:27pm
Welcome Tom. To quote Honda Worldwide News, "Fit was the industry’s top selling car among new vehicle registrations for the month of April 2014 with sales of 15,621 units. VEZEL was the industry’s sixth best-selling car with sales of 7,959 units." Taking it a step further: "All New 2015 Honda Fit Designed to Top the Subcompact Class" says America Honda Motors. I will conceed to the over statement of specifications. 11% increase in horspower over 2014 and a 7.5% increase in torque. Also: Best in class interior volume with 52.7 cubic feet of available interior cargo space. Thanks for bringing this to my attention. Have a fantastic weekend.
Bill C wrote on June 8, 2014 - 2:32am
Parks, thank you for correcting the detailed data on the Fit. I am not sure where you got the sales data. From Honda's press release pages I found this for April 2014 (America only): "CR-V recorded sales of 28,485, up 7.4 percent for a new April record Accord posted April sales of 34,124, an increase of 1.7 percent Civic was up 4.4 percent to 27,611 units vs. April 2013" Thus these CR-V, Accord, and Civic all outsold the Fit. Additionally Honda has indicated a major hold back on the Fit, limiting supplies to dealers until mid June in the USA. The Vezel is not sold in the USA at this time, nor is it yet being manufactured at the Mexico plant as far as I can tell. Your data must be allocated for another country/region. Please verify the source.
Parks McCants wrote on June 8, 2014 - 10:55am
Good morning Bill. We 'all' have access to the same data. The information in this article is taken from Honda Motors Japan. I've provided a link in the article to the source. The term " industry" in this case may reffer to Honda automotive production for the month of may. The Vezel as you say is not sold in North America. So in this application, while Honda does record an uptick in most regions, for North America sales were down a fraction -1.7% for the period reported. Honda's intent is very clear as shared with us in Los Angeles, Detroit and New York. The Fit is staged to dominate the entry level compact car segment. The Celaya, Mexico CVC transmission and automotive manufacturing facility is dedicated to the Fit and the Fit platformed Vezel. In North America the Vezel has been rebranded. Dedicated production of the Fit for the region will exceed 100,000 units for the mid 2014-2015 production run. Honda's totally redesigned Fit will dominate the compact car segment of Honda's line-up, giving Nissan and Toyota a run for the money. Thanks for your interest.
John Goreham wrote on July 28, 2014 - 5:47pm
In Mazda's press release this month about the Mazda2 they said, “With more than 2.4 million units sold worldwide, the Mazda2 is the best-selling vehicle in Japan.” It's not even close in Japan, in the US, or overall. Toyota is selling 40,000 Camrys each month just in the US market. The automakers seem to have stars in their eyes. F-150 and Camry rule the roost in the US.
Kay Clark wrote on June 8, 2014 - 3:49pm
Hi - any idea when the 2015 Fit will be available? Thanks!
Raymond Max wrote on June 8, 2014 - 10:10pm
I hear that the 2015 Honda Fit is to be released in the second week of June 2014. However, this follows a no-show in late May. Should be here soon. looks like a solid value.