[oldchap14]

September Almost Sure

American Honda has repeatedly said late summer. This narrows it down to August or September. The reason they have not nailed down a month is to give them a little "wiggle room" since world demand has not yet been determined. Japanese initial orders have been strong, but Europe, with its higher prices based on more deluxe content is the great unknown.

One of the reasons certain high-cost options like leather, sunroofs and LED lights will not be available in the U.S. is American Honda's concern about keeping the MSRP close to or below $20K.

And remember, there are no set-in-stone definitions of "launch", "release"
"introduce" or "goes on sale". Volume delivery could come as late as October.

 

[oldchap14]

The September Song

Unless European orders are below forecast, the U.S. will probably not get CR-Z's before September. With Japanese sales beating forecast by 10 fold and many boat loads still to be dispatched to Europe, U.S. avalilability will certainly be later than originally anticipated.

 

[oldchap14]

No Word Yet From Honda

Think about it this way: If CR-Z's were to be built in the U.S., American Honda would have announced a release date at the Detroit Auto Show in January. Here we are two days away from April and no word yet from AH other than "late summer". In other words, they still don't know when they will get enough cars to put at least put in every dealer's show room.

I'm pretty sure the CR-Z's will come from the same factory that built NSX's and S2000's. This is the highest quality factory in Honda's arsenal, but back in 2000 had a capacity of 25-30K units annually, if I recall correctly. Even with overtime it will be a strain to fill the world-wide pipeline so expect to see initial scarcity in the U.S. since we get it last.