Tom Elliott: I have a lot of involvement in the product planning at American Honda, whether it's the Honda side or the Acura side. I can't take credit for the Type R because obviously the Type R was developed here in Japan. We did think there was a good market for it because it really fit in with the Acura concept, which is a little bit more high-performance, particularly the Integra, so it seemed a very natural thing to bring it over.
The Civic Si was a little bit different. The Civic itself is more of a family car, a high-volume, mass-market car. But, we weren't unaware of the fact that the Civic coupe and the hatchback appeal to the youth market. We're also aware of how many of them are out there replacing engines and doing engine hop-up work. So, we thought, we've got a good engine here [the B16A] why not put the two together? We didn't really want a car like the Type R because the Type R is too narrowly focused. It didn't have the volume potential that we like to have on the Honda side. Most people don't know it, but we sell 120,000 Civic coupes a year. That's a lot of volume, and we wanted to keep that volume going. So the car had to be stylish, fun to drive, a good value, and it had to have Honda DQR [dependability, quality, and reliability]. But we also wanted to increase the performance level, and it seemed like a natural to take the DOHC 160hp engine, the four-wheel discs, and stick them in that car to give the youth market a better starting point.
Matt: Because as you know, they're doing that anyway.
Tom: Exactly. So now they can get it from the factory, and we know they're not going to stop there, but they have a better starting point. If they're going to spend that much money on their cars, why not give them the basics of what they're looking for to begin with?
Matt: But a lot of car companies could look at the Super Street movement and totally ignore it. The leadership had to be there. Someone behind the scenes had to be pushing for it, and I hear you're that guy.
Tom: Well, it's not a real high-volume area, and a lot of people in our company think high-volume. I don't want to call [the Civic Si] an image car, but it's really a kind of car that young people will buy and set some trends. It will keep the momentum going for the Civic, particularly the Civic coupe, and we feel it's very important that the Civic coupe attract a young buyer. A Civic EX with 127 hp may not have been all they wanted, so it was a natural thing to do. It may have taken just a little extra pushing on our part to get it done because it's not the volume we do with some of our other cars.
Matt: Within our niche, the Type R and now the Civic Si are looked upon as validation of the import performance movement. Would you say that's a fair assessment?
Tom: Absolutely. In spite of what you read in some publications, we've been aware of this movement for a long time. You don't make these changes to car lines overnight. I think with the next Civic, which comes out in a few years, you'll see even more of a reasonable performance expectation level. We realize that young buyers are not just looking for price and DQR.
A significant number of them want performance, and when they buy a Civic, we hope the next car they buy will be an Accord or an Integra. I think we have a leg up on our competition in this area but I also know that when I was at the L.A. Auto Show in January, Toyota had a much larger exhibit that included more cars from this area, more tuner cars. I think they had one from HKS and some other people. So I think they [Toyota] are not unaware that this market exists, as well. I think we have a little bit better image in this market than they do, and that's something we don't want to lose.
Matt: Are there any plans for expanding on the Honda performance parts or accessories side in America?
By Matthew Pearson
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