Any news on the 2020 Clarity
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Not much doubt that it will be made.
The above is the same as the info I got (second hand) from someone that attended the dealer meeting. Some possibility they misunderstood since the Clarity Electric has always been CA and OR only and that may have been the version being discussed.
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I read a while back that Honda has only committed to producing 20,000 Clarities per year. This is for all three versions. At this rate they'll only be sold in CARB states. Honda has used the Clarity nameplate in the past as a technology demonstration vehicle. The best way to demonstrate technology is to get it in the hands of consumers.
That all changed in 2019. Based on looking at VIN numbers Honda produced over 23,000 of the 2018 Clarity, which were shipped to all fifty states. However they shipped less than 1,000 of the 2019 models to ZEV states in the first two months of the year, none to non-ZEV states. After approx February all cars went only to California, which is now up to VIN numbers barely over 5,000. Less than 1,000 have been sold in Canada this year, I don't have any numbers for Japan but can only guess it is similar to Canada. So the total produced for 2019 will probably be less than 10,000.
Honda has said the 2020 model will be sold in Canada. Makes sense because customers there are willing to pay MSRP because of the tax credits. U.S. customers don't seem to be willing to buy Clarity without massive discounts on top of the tax credits, thus the pullback to only California where it seems to sell pretty well without massive discounts, although some people have been able to get some big dealer incentives passed on to them.
So unless they change their strategy they will sell the 2020 in California and Canada only.
Oregon was stiffed this year just like the other ZEV states. Oregon ran out of cars several months ago, likely because of the factory incentive there (which oddly is still available months after Honda stopped shipping cars there). Honda stopped the incentives in east coast ZEV states early in the year thus cars sat on lots on the east coast all year, there are still cars on east coast including some 2018's.
This is all deduced from looking at VIN numbers on dealer lots, Honda claims people can order cars in all states but every anecdotal report I have seen is dealers in other states refuse to order it. Only report I know of is a car ordered in Michigan in March, customer gave up and cancelled in May, car finally arrived at the dealer in September and sold after a few weeks on the lot.
Thank you for your detailed reporting of the Clarity's production and sales in the US and elsewhere. I have a 2018 Touring PHEV model and I absolutely love this car. I realize I am driving a car that is not one of a kind, but perhaps a car that could be extinct in some respects in the coming years. However, I am comforted when I think back and remind myself that Honda was the first car manufacturer to produce a true hybrid car with the first Insight. Although it did not sell in large numbers I still see some of those early models on the road today. I believe the technology in the Clarity is exceptional and I have great respect for Honda as a car company. I have discussed with my local Honda dealer their commitment to servicing my vehicle as it ages. I realize as time goes by, if Honda chooses not to put more of their resources behind the Clarity nameplate, servicing my vehicle may become an expensive and time-consuming experience. But for now, count me someone who is in for the ride and pushing the horn long and loud in support of the wonderful Clarity Touring PHEV.
Just bought a 2019 in Maine and Love it!
We bought a 2019 Clarity at the 1st of the month and my wife seldom lets me drive it. I saw a 2018 in a supermarket lot one day and was ecstatic to see a PHEV by Honda. The owner said that he had been driving to and from work for months and never bought gas. He also had never let anyone else ride in the car. It was Crimson color and I was sold. Unfortunately, there were no Crimsons in New England, nor green etc. Black, White, Steel Gray were our only choices. So we got a quote for the black one in the lot - only one car at any dealer's lot for many miles around. That was Sat late and we went with the quote to do the money numbers. Sunday nite we emailed our salesman. Monday morning we came in to find that the manager had sold the black car to someone as the doors opened at the dealer. We were pissed as we were told the quote was good to Monday.
Two weeks later we finally got a Steel Gray car driven from a dealer in New Jersey and at the quoted price. We reluctantly took it, but while it does nothing to enhance our egos with a snazzy red car, it drives like a wonder. And it has slowed down my heavy footed wife, something that even a few speeding tickets was not able to do.
Honda is crazy if they think that there are not a lot of folks in the rest of the country who will buy a PHEV.
We bought a 2019 Clarity at the 1st of the month and my wife seldom lets me drive it. I saw a 2018 in a supermarket lot one day and was ecstatic to see a PHEV by Honda. The owner said that he had been driving to and from work for months and never bought gas. He also had never let anyone else ride in the car. It was Crimson color and I was sold. Unfortunately, there were no Crimsons in New England, nor green etc. Black, White, Steel Gray were our only choices. So we got a quote for the black one in the lot - only one car at any dealer's lot for many miles around. That was Sat late and we went with the quote to do the money numbers. Sunday nite we emailed our salesman. Monday morning we came in to find that the manager had sold the black car to someone as the doors opened at the dealer. We were pissed as we were told the quote was good to Monday.
Two weeks later we finally got a Steel Gray car driven from a dealer in New Jersey and at the quoted price. We reluctantly took it, but while it does nothing to enhance our egos with a snazzy red car, it drives like a wonder. And it has slowed down my heavy footed wife, something that even a few speeding tickets was not able to do.
Honda is crazy if they think that there are not a lot of folks in the rest of the country who will buy a PHEV.
I visited the service department of local Honda dealership today, one of five that refused to order a Clarity for me. The SM at this particular location told me, "We had two on the lot for over a year and couldn't sell them so we traded them away."
I left the parts desk with my Platinum White Pearl touch-up paint and returned to the parking lot to find three sales persons standing next to my car. One asked, "Is this a Clarity?" and another queried, "Where'd you get it?" "Not here," I responded, and drove silently away.
Those were 2018's that they had in stock as 2019's were shipped only to ZEV states (and of course they also said they had them in stock over a year).
Although there's a 2019 Base for sale at Honda Murfreesboro in Tennessee, VIN 004730 which means built approx August so quite new. My guess is it is a similar situation as the Ann Arbor Michigan 2019 Base (VIN 003295) on that one someone found a dealer willing to place an order but then the customer cancelled after two and a half months of waiting, the car eventually arrived six months after ordering and sat on the dealer lot for a few weeks before being sold (or traded).
Also the Michigan car was listed for sale on the dealer website with generic photos about a month before it actually arrived at the dealer. The Honda Murfreesboro website only has generic photos of VIN 004730, maybe they just haven't taken pictures but it is also possible that it hasn't arrived there yet.
Of course there could be cars ordered around the country that customers did not cancel thus we'll never know about them since they would never be listed on a dealer website. But the anecdotal evidence is that these would be rare as it requires finding a dealer willing to order one which is apparently very hard to do, and then a customer willing to wait it out until it arrives.
I asked in July, BEFORE Honda announced that they would not be shipping the 2019s to non-ZEV states. When Honda DID announce that fact they ALSO said that "any dealership could order a 2019" - and THAT was my point: The dealers all refused to order a 2019. Not one of them said they COULD not - they all said that they WOULD not.
Hopefully I didn't say something that gave the impression that I disagreed with your point?
Nope, just clarifying my comment... :grin:
Our friends bought a Clarity back at the end of August (in Ottawa)...and are still waiting for it :-(. I think part of the fluctuation of people buying these cars was political. People were worried a Conservative gov't might get in in Oct, and one of the things they would have done is stop the purchase incentive ($5000 federal). I think the market here in Canada goes up and down. At one point the province of Ontario was giving a $13,000 rebate...so more people were buying. That rebate no longer exists, so purchasing slowed down. The province with the highest rebate now is QC, which gives $8000 (and you get the $5000 federal as well)...which was definitely a factor for us when we bought.
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No differences listed, although it does refer to the powertrain as "full parallel hybrid" - when it's actually a serial hybrid...
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