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Honda thumbs nose at fleet sales, claims it leads in key vehicle segments

Fleet sales are a way of life in the automotive industry. There are many non-retail customers that need vehicles, but going too far can reduce brand image and vehicle resale value. While some of its competitors have fleet sale that account for up to 20 or 30 of overall sales, Honda is bragging that it has the lowest fleet sales of all mainstream automakers for the first five months of 2013.
After calculating new-car registration data from R.L. Polk, Honda says that just two percent of its sales through went to fleet customers compared to an industry average of 19 percent. Even though this means Honda leaves plenty of sales on the table each month, it also claims to have the highest resale value and lowest cost of ownership among its competitors. In terms of retail sales, Honda says that the Civic, Accord, CR-V and Odyssey all lead their respective segments, and it breaks down/brags about its retail sales success in the press release, which is posted below.

J.D. Power study sees new car dependability problems increase for first time since 1998

For the first time since 1998, J.D. Power and Associates says its data shows that the average number of problems per 100 cars has increased. The finding is the result of the firm's much-touted annual Vehicle Dependability Study, which charts incidents of problems in new vehicle purchases over three years from 41,000 respondents.
Looking at first-owner cars from the 2011 model year, the study found an average of 133 problems per 100 cars (PP100, for short), up 6 percent from 126 PP100 in last year's study, which covered 2010 model-year vehicles. Disturbingly, the bulk of the increase is being attributed to engine and transmission problems, with a 6 PP100 boost.
Interestingly, JDP notes that "the decline in quality is particularly acute for vehicles with four-cylinder engines, where problem levels increase by nearly 10 PP100." Its findings also noticed that large diesel engines also tended to be more problematic than most five- and six-cylinder engines.

2014 Honda Odyssey first minivan to earn Top Safety Pick+ award [w/video]

You know an automaker is confident about the safety of its vehicles when it asks one of the top crash test agencies to destroy one of its newest models. That's exactly what happened with the 2014 Honda Odyssey. According the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Honda requested that the agency run the updated Odyssey through its full barrage of tests, and for good reason.
Aside from slight styling upgrades and a new optional HondaVac built-in vacuum cleaner, the 2014 Odyssey was also given a more rigid passenger compartment using high-strength steel to help better protect occupants. It obviously worked. Following the crash tests, the 2014 Odyssey became the first minivan to earn a Top Safety Pick+ rating, but, more importantly, it did so with "Good" ratings in all five crash categories (four "Goods" and one "Acceptable" are enough for the TSP+). Impressive.
Scroll down for the crash-test video from the IIHS along with a press release.