Hi, My name is J.W. I bought a new Calrity in 2018 in Ft. Worth, Texas. So far I haven't had any trouble with it and I am happy with it's performance. One thing I do find a bit odd is that in the 2 + years I have driven it, I have yet to see another one being driven in Ft.Worth or anywhere else I have been, not one. I am beginning to think I possess the only Clarity in the county! Rare Bird indeed!!
rare bird
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Outside of California they truly are a rarity! We live in Central IL and have never seen another one in our neck of the woods.
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Welcome aboard!
Yes, as @ClarityDave said is correct - the Clarity has not been marketed outside CA & OR.
It's a great feeling to have a unique car in your area.
When I first got the forest green metallic '18 Clarity, I was the only one in my area of Southern California.
Now, I see them everywhere!
Yes, as @ClarityDave said is correct - the Clarity has not been marketed outside CA & OR.
It's a great feeling to have a unique car in your area.
When I first got the forest green metallic '18 Clarity, I was the only one in my area of Southern California.
Now, I see them everywhere!
There are very few out there, that's for sure. I've seen less than half a dozen in the New York metro area. Supposedly there were only 21,000 or so 2018 models sold in the country.
Pretty close, our moderator 4sallypat bought one of the last 2018's produced, his Clarity has a VIN number of around 23,500.
The 2018 model year Clarity was produced from around October 2017 to December 2018. The PHEV version was sold nationwide in 2018, and you could find some in every state. Although most were shipped to California.
The 2019 model was handled very differently. Honda again shipped Clarity primarily to California, but shipped them nowhere else except the other ZEV states (at the time that was Oregon and most east coast states). But even the other ZEV states only got an initial shipment in early 2019, after that Honda only shipped Clarity to California for the remainder of 2019. There were initially some decent factory incentives for the east coast ZEV states, leading to a reasonable number of sales. But then around mid-year 2019 (as best I can remember) Honda ended factory incentives except in California and Oregon. Sales on the east coast screeched to a virtual halt, and 2019 models (and even some leftover 2018 models) languished on east coast dealer lots for the remainder of the year. Oddly Honda also stopped shipping Clarity to Oregon also, even though they kept the factory incentive going in Oregon all year, long after all the cars in Oregon were gone.
In August of 2019 Honda was questioned by a member of the EV press about the lack of Clarity shipments outside of California. A Honda spokesperson admitted that they were currently "prioritizing" Clarity inventory for California, but claimed that Clarity could still be ordered in all 50 states. However in reality that was not true based on the experience of numerous people all around the country who tried unsuccessfully to order a Clarity, with most dealers claiming it was not available for order, some erroneously said it was discontinued (which they may have actually believed), other dealers simply refused to order one with no reason given.
Starting with the 2020 model Honda resumed shipping a few Clarities sporadically to some other states, very few though. And some people reported that they were now able to order one outside of California, even though it often took four months to arrive, with no ETA available during that time until the car was about two weeks out. That situation seems to have pretty much continued into 2021.
So what to make of all this? There have been many opinions and theories. My opinion is that I think that Honda can make a small profit when selling Clarity without a factory incentive. In states where they get CARB credits Honda offered dealer incentives, which makes the initial sale a loss to Honda, however the credits can make it worth it overall. For the non-ZEV states Honda shipped nationwide in 2018, in the hopes (again this is my opinion) that because of the $7,500 federal tax credit that Clarity would sell without factory incentive in reasonable, even if limited numbers, just with normal dealer discounts (i.e.$1,000-3,000). However that didn't happen and cars languished on dealer lots in states where there were no factory incentives. I think that's when Honda decided to give up on nationwide sales. And there is a theory that they also gave up on east coast ZEV states because they don't need the credits there, or they don't need them that badly, not enough anyway to take a loss on the sale. Only in California does it seem that they get enough CARB credit that it makes sense to offer a factory incentive and take an initial loss. I suspect that the cars occasionally shipped outside of California are simply excess stock, which is why it is so random.
Many people have an alternate theory, that Clarity sells in low numbers because Honda doesn't advertise it. Well sure, but why don't they advertise it? I think it's because it makes no sense to spend big advertising dollars to try and increase sales of a car that will likely be sold at a loss, in states where they don't need CARB credits. I think another reason is that it's hard to explain in a short ad what a PHEV is, to a buying public that still thinks regular hybrids are plugged in. It's sort of like they say about comedy, if you have to explain a joke it won't work. Ads appeal to the emotions, and if you have to do too much explaining in an ad, it doesn't work either. Now if more of the public was already familiar with the PHEV concept, and knew that most PHEV's only get around 25 miles of EV range, then the ad would be simple, "Buy the Honda Clarity, the plug-in hybrid that gets 47 miles of EV range". But if they tried that ad today, people would say, "What? Only 47 miles of EV range? All of the others go 100 miles or more!" and they would not read past that to learn that when you use up the electric range you can fill up at any gas station and keep going.
I work for a small company with 70 employees there are three clarity owners.
Hey, J.W.! My initials are J.W. too and I also own a 2018 silver grey Touring Model Honda Clarity. I bought her new in November 2018 and her “born on” date at the factory in Japan was in January of 2018. Like you I have never had one single thing go wrong with my vehicle so far. To date I have spent a grand total of about $90 in maintenance and that was for the cost of two annual visits to my Honda dealer for routine oil change, tire rotation, etc. Also like you I see very few of these vehicles in my area, Wilmington, North Carolina. To date I have run across a grand total of two Clarity’s in my area. I give huge credit to the members of this Forum for helping educate me about a multitude of useful and highly practical information about the Clarity; much of which I have collected and stored for future reference. One specific suggestion thread I just put into actual use was the purchase of a complete full-size spare tire kit which I will take with me on long trips. Welcome to the club!
Hi! I too have owned our Clarity for 2 years. We were on the lookout for other Claritys and had trouble finding another owner. I finally was one in Mishawaka, IN as I was driving. And another one just this last year in a state park. We had driven in Northern Indiana and took a trip to FL and OH in this time. We were thinking we were the only ones as well. Trully love our Clarity. I cannot see myself ever driving a total gas engine ever again. There is so much I like about it.
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I too purchased a Clarity on August 1st 2019 (2018 model, Red Touring) and had to go from GA state to LA (Lower Alabama) to get it...The local dealer here in Rome GA, said they had sold a few earlier in the year but were out... And there were a couple in the Atlanta area but they wanted the 2019 price for a 2018 model (nope!!)...there were several used ones about one year old and when I inquired "why so many used ones a year old being sold now as used cars?" and his answer was that "The original buyers were 'gaming the system' just to get the tax advantage and then trading them back in"...I probably have the only one in my general area...I really like the concept but after having driven it over the mountains going to Pigeon Forge last year I came to realize that this 1.5 Liter engine is just too small for that kind of condition...it does great on flat and SOME up hills but not 15 or 20 miles or so of steady uphill with no rest...that "engine sound" I've heard others talk about is indeed the engine straining...my next plug in hybrid will have at least a 2.5 liter maybe like the Toyota RAV 4 with several other features that this one don't have like: heated steering wheel, air conditioned seats, 300 horse power and still about 42 miles on electric...but, don't get me wrong I really like this Clarity but they are a rarity and dealers probably won't order you one because of the hassle of actually getting it in and then the lack of revenue due to low maintenance...they will probably just "up sale" or "off sale" you to something else...The "plug-in market" will be more desirable for most Americans for the next several years due to the "trip anxiety" and battery recharge time for TOTAL electrics...I'm going to hang on to what I have now for a couple more years until the manufacturers (probably Toyota or Honda) get the additional features that Americans want and at the price they'll pay...
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I am also in GA and considering putting in an order for the upcoming updated 2022 model. I am concerned that the local dealership won’t know anything about the car and won’t be able to help me with any issues or even scheduled maintenance that comes up. Have any of you rare birds had any trouble with that? Or should I be secure that my local dealership will figure out whatever they need to?
We didn't get confirmation of the 2021 model until July of last year, and 2021's didn't start appearing in California dealerships until October. So I think we are still months away from finding out whether there will even be a 2022 model, much less anything about it. And if there is a 2022 model there is no reason to believe that there will be any changes. The normal refresh cycles don't apply to a car that they only sell around 4,000 per year. I suspect Honda is possibly treating the Clarity like Toyota treated the Prius v (the station wagon, and yes it was lowercase v to differentiate from the earlier Prius V sedan). The Prius v was based on the Gen 3 Prius sedan, but the Prius v was passed over when Toyota did the Gen 4 upgrade on the Prius sedans. However Toyota kept selling the Prius v in its existing configuration for another couple of years before discontinuing it when sales declined.
Based on VIN numbers they seem on track to sell another 4,000 Clarities in 2021, so maybe they will let it run another year.
Any Honda dealer can service the Clarity, it uses the same hybrid system as the Accord hybrid, just with a larger battery and larger electric motor, and a few other extras like the charger and battery cooling. Anything that a tech can't figure out they contact Honda technical, like they do with any new model of any type. Parts can sometimes take longer to get, although I don't hear about that being a problem as much as it used to be, for the first couple of years it seemed that most Clarity parts (including windshields) had to ship from Japan on a slow boat (literally), so I think that has improved as they apparently are now stocking at least some Clarity parts in U.S. warehouses.
Hey PlanetaryGear! You shouldn’t vex too much about whether your local Honda dealer will be able to service your Clarity. The Clarity’s powertrain is not unique and is shared across several Honda hybrid vehicle platforms. If your dealer sells and services other Honda hybrids they should be equally skilled at servicing the Clarity’s. The infotainment system is likewise a standardized platform across Honda models, etc. Many other aspects of the vehicle will prove less than mysterious to any Honda mechanic who has been trained to work on Honda’s wide line-up of hybrid vehicles. Don’t forget as well, Honda dealers were the first to offer a hybrid in the form of the Honda Insight over 20 years ago, before even Toyota. The Clarity is actually the current penultimate evolution of the Insight product line. So, Honda has a long history of hybrid technology in their product lines and in their service bays. Yes, there will be a few areas where the Clarity could prove a service challenge, but any good service department has access to Honda’s wide array of technical resources to figure out unique problems as they arise. Happy and economical driving.
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