Honda sales fall for first time this year

[InkAddict]

Sales of the company's flagship Accord, which is mainly produced in Marysville, fell 25.2 percent to 34,504 cars sold, while sales of the Accord Hybrid dropped 78.6 percent to 499 units.

Civic sales were off 9.2 percent to 31,549 units sold, with the Civic Hybrid falling 17.7 percent to 3,411 cars sold.

The company's luxury Acura division reported a 4.9 percent fall in sales to 18,263 units, down from 19,221 units last year. A 5 percent rise in Acura SUV sales to 5,654 units wasn't enough to make up for a 9 percent drop in its car sales to 12,609 units. The company sold 1,361 of its new Acura RDX since the SUV went on sale Aug. 10.

Honda (NYSE:HMC) runs four plants and a research and development center in Ohio through its Honda of America Manufacturing Inc. subsidiary. The company said it began exporting its Acura TL to China and expects to sell about 3,000 of the vehicles in the first year. It is the first U.S.-made model the Japanese automaker has exported to China.

http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2006/08/28/daily36.html?f=et58&hbx=e_du