The task for the factory and its agents now is to maintain that level for a full 12 months.

The results for December come as a bit of joy to Honda Australia that had a shaky start to its agency program in July when VFACTS reported a 62.6 per cent slump in sales compared with the same month in 2020.

Honda sold 17,562 vehicles in 2021, with only 6791 – or 39 per cent of the total – sold in the last six months.

Sales grew from 822 units in July to 1362 in November and then 1640 units in December.

But overall sales for the year were down 40 per cent on 2020, compared with the total passenger car and SUV sector – in which Honda is active – that was up 16.7 per cent on the previous year.

Honda Australia said it was “continuing to build momentum through the initial transition phase to 20,000-unit annual pace.”

In defence of the agency mode, Honda said that 89 per cent of its customers “strongly agree that buying a new Honda was exceptionally easy.”

It also reported that it is “now near the top of Deloitte’s benchmark lead conversion rate for 2021, up 40 per cent.”

Honda Australia director Stephen Collins said: “November was actually the first full month of relatively normal trading conditions for our new national network of Honda Centres, especially in the key metropolitan areas of Melbourne and Sydney, which resulted in more sales contracts signed and more cars delivered to customers, as well as an increased level of customer enquiries.”

“Through our new ‘live’ customer feedback system, we’ve seen 89 per cent of customers strongly agree that buying a new Honda was exceptionally easy, while 87 per cent gave the new sales experience a top rating of nine or 10 out of 10.”

He said that the network response to the new buying experience “has also been extremely positive” with the Honda Centres embracing the change.

“Customers have a significantly better experience under the new model,” Mr Collins said. 

Honda Australia quoted Honda dealer Tony Jowett of the Jowett Motor Group saying: “The switch to the new Honda agency model has been enormous for my business, with a significant level of change versus how we operated previously, but it’s been an extremely positive change at the same time.”

Mr Jowett is also the Honda Area executive at Eastern Honda and Northern Honda.

“The first few transition months were challenging, negotiating lockdowns and varying levels of trading restrictions, while at the same time training our staff on all the new systems and processes,” he said.

“But in recent months we’ve seen much improved results across all areas of our business and the customer response to a seamless and haggle-free purchase process has been very encouraging. 

“With Honda Australia now holding all of the stock, we essentially have access to the national stock pool now and unlike many other brands, we can secure vehicles for immediate sale, so we’re really positive about what lies ahead for Honda in 2022.”

Honda Australia launched the 11th-generation Civic in December and now plans to release new models over the next 18-24 months “during which time the entire local Honda line-up will change over to new generation models.”

Honda Civic

By Neil Dowling