[4sallypat]

Here's a post from Green Car Reports about the current status of the Clarity PHEV:

https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1126778_honda-clarity-phev-kia-s-electric-push-tesla-s-unintended-acceleration-today-s-car-news

Good to hear Honda is still selling the Clarity PHEV 2020 model year in CA - however much to dismay those that are outside CA.

Your thoughts on this decision by Honda ???

 

[2002]

The Honda press release doesn't say anything about only being sold in California, in fact it makes this statement:

"Clarity PHEV qualifies for a federal tax rebate of up to $7,500 and various state rebates, including $1,000 in California where it's also eligible for single-occupant HOV access."

Presumably Green Car Reports is assuming (like I am) that Honda is continuing in 2020 with the policy stated by one of their spokespersons last August that Clarity inventory is currently being prioritized for California but that the car can still be ordered in all fifty states. The first part of that has proved to be true, the second part has proved to be false, or at least 99% false as we constantly hear from people around the country that dealers cannot or will not order a Clarity, with very rare exceptions like we recently heard from member N21HV in Washington who managed to find one dealer (after contacting many) who was willing to order a Clarity (at MSRP),although their delivery date is currently unknown.

 

[obermd]

It tells me Honda isn't that interested in selling EVs. The only reason they're selling them in California is CARB regulations.

Honda has a very poor track record when it comes to EVs, releasing limited production number short range EVs. I suspect the issue is Honda, as with Toyota, is in bed with Japan's MITI, which until recently has pushed Hydrogen fuel cells as the way forward and as a result completely missed the start of the BEV transition.

 

[Kerbe]

Here's another confirmation... https://insideevs.com/news/393494/2020-honda-clarity-plug-in-hybrid-returns/

 

[2002]

Here's a post from Green Car Reports about the current status of the Clarity PHEV:

https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1126778_honda-clarity-phev-kia-s-electric-push-tesla-s-unintended-acceleration-today-s-car-news

They also have a more detailed story in this link:

https://www.greencarreports.com/new...d-returns-to-california-other-states-by-order

However wow there is a lot of Clarity bashing going on in the comments over there. But just try and refute something and the editor removes your post. I got one reply in that they didn't cut, but then someone said they test drove a Clarity and one of their biggest turn offs was that with the battery not charged they said the engine noise was terrible, but then it "settled down" after a few miles. I wanted to let them know that this is a common occurrence on test drives when dealers leave the cars sitting on lots and the battery gets lower than it normally would, so I posted the following:


"In normal usage even with 0 EV range there is still enough battery reserve to avoid overly noisy engine operation. However when a Clarity has sat at a dealer for a long time the battery level can be quite a bit lower than it is in normal use, resulting in higher engine RPM as it tries to get the battery level back up to minimums. Doesn't make a great first impression of course on a test drive when that happens, but in normal use this situation would be more rare. I have heard that driving in mountains with a low battery the engine can be somewhat noisy, but in my experience in normal usage any higher revving is brief and fairly infrequent, and the Clarity has good sound proofing which muffles engine noise quite well although you can certainly hear the engine when it is revving higher. "

My reply went into moderation for about ten minutes then it got cut. Apparently it was more facts than they really wanted to hear.

 

[N21HV]

I mentioned in another thread that I called a whole lot of dealers in state of Washington about getting a 2020. I actually test drove one in one of these places and was sold on the car. They weren't willing to make any promises about 2020 model and didn't seem all that interested in calling around or doing any work to find out so we went on our way. Well, guess what, they texted me today saying they can get one and wanted to know how we wanted to move forward. Interesting timing. I am suspecting that Honda lifted some kind of embargo on information about 2020 today. Honda's web site also got updated with 2020 notation.
Well, since we already put our money down elsewhere so these guys missed out on our business but clearly, they are willing to take order now.
I say start calling around if you are looking for one.

 

[2002]

I mentioned in another thread that I called a whole lot of dealers in state of Washington about getting a 2020. I actually test drove one in one of these places and was sold on the car. They weren't willing to make any promises about 2020 model and didn't seem all that interested in calling around or doing any work to find out so we went on our way. Well, guess what, they texted me today saying they can get one and wanted to know how we wanted to move forward. Interesting timing. I am suspecting that Honda lifted some kind of embargo on information about 2020 today. Honda's web site also got updated with 2020 notation.
Well, since we already put our money down elsewhere so these guys missed out on our business but clearly, they are willing to take order now.
I say start calling around if you are looking for one.

And hopefully that means you won't have to wait a long time for yours to come in.

 

[4sallypat]

Maybe it has something to do with the EV infrastructure additions the dealers have to fork out ?

If you think about it, why would a Honda dealer want to pay lots of money to install EV charge facilities, pay to train their service staff and sales staff ??

Answer: states like CA where it's wildly popular.

I can see why the other 49 states have pushed back by the dealers who said, why be forced to endure a huge capital outlay for EV when they think sales will be dismal ???

 

[2002]

Maybe it has something to do with the EV infrastructure additions the dealers have to fork out ?

If you think about it, why would a Honda dealer want to pay lots of money to install EV charge facilities, pay to train their service staff and sales staff ??

Answer: states like CA where it's wildly popular.

I can see why the other 49 states have pushed back by the dealers who said, why be forced to endure a huge capital outlay for EV when they think sales will be dismal ???

That could be part of it, although a lot of dealers around the country had Clarity on their lots in 2018 so presumably they already have what is needed. One we know about is Germain Honda in Michigan who has it all but claims they were told by Honda that they could no longer order Clarity. But that was a couple of months ago, since then a few 2019's were shipped to a handful of dealers in several states at the end of the model year, and member N21HV not only was able to find a dealer in Washington who was (barely) willing to order one, they recently were contacted by a dealer that they previously talked to who said they can now order one. So hopefully the straps are being loosened a little bit with the rollout of the 2020 model. Will be interesting to see what happens.

 

[DucRider]

I think that dealers were always able to order the Clarity PHEV. Willing to is another story.

Dealers are highly motivated to move the inventory on their lots, and they will do their best to move it. They don't actually pay for their vehicles up front, but use "flooring" that results in a monthly charge per vehicle. The longer a vehicle sits, the more it costs them (and usually the more they have to discount it). Plus, very little dealer profit is from new car sales. I can understand why dealers are reluctant to go thru the process of a special order.

 

[2002]

Ordering cars used to be much more common. It was the easiest way to get the combination of color and options that you wanted, especially if you wanted a combination that was hard to find on dealer lots. But that was with U.S. car makes, and some European, I'm not sure if it was ever common to order Japanese cars. Of course nowadays they have changed how options work and instead have a limited number of packages so there isn't the advantage that there used to be in ordering.

 

[Kerbe]

Ordering cars used to be much more common. It was the easiest way to get the combination of color and options that you wanted.

In the 1950s nearly ALL cars were custom-ordered from the factory - the only models on the lots were demos that were sold at a discount at the end of the model year.

 

[kvs]

As expensive as PHEVs and BEVs are, they have little profit margin. My guess is that the easy access to Clarity's in CA has to do with the CA mandates, ie a perversion of the free market. Why sell a car with low profit margins when you can sell others at a higher profit?

 

[obermd]

As expensive as PHEVs and BEVs are, they have little profit margin. My guess is that the easy access to Clarity's in CA has to do with the CA mandates, ie a perversion of the free market. Why sell a car with low profit margins when you can sell others at a higher profit?

This is why I suspect we'll see more BEV startups start taking sales away from the entrenched auto makers. Startups don't have a cash cow that'll be destroyed by products based on new technology.

 

[ClarityDave]

As expensive as PHEVs and BEVs are, they have little profit margin. My guess is that the easy access to Clarity's in CA has to do with the CA mandates, ie a perversion of the free market. Why sell a car with low profit margins when you can sell others at a higher profit?

I would imagine that the state of California has some pretty good incentives/rebates that make it more likely that people will find value in a car like the Clarity. That, along with the fact that gas is so much more expensive in California...

But what some people may not realize is that even here in Illinois where I live, it is possible to fuel a Clarity with electricity at less than half the cost of fueling it with gasoline. And that’s with cheap gas currently at $2 a gallon.

 

[4sallypat]

One day, I'd like to get this EV:

 

[ClarityDave]

One thing I would like to point out since this thread originally started as a commentary on the Clarity being sold primarily in California. It is true that the majority will be found there but there are smatterings of them to be found all over the country. If you spend some time researching, they can be found. My wife and I found the exact Clarity we were looking for (2020 Crimson Pearl Touring) right here in the midwest. We picked the car up in Michigan a couple of weeks ago. It was about a 300 mile drive for us as opposed to a 2500 mile drive. It wasn’t easy and it took weeks of searching, calling, and negotiating but we got it and at a substantial discount off MSRP.