Honda's lineup prospers; Japanese rivals scurry to revise product plans

摘要

If there were an award for the smartest and luckiest automaker, Honda probably would have been declared the winner this year. The spike in gasoline prices has pushed the product programs of some automakers into the shredder. Nissan and Toyota are dialing back their full-sized SUV and pickup programs and also are caught with a surplus of V-8 capacity. But Honda's conservative product plan was the proper path, after all. Honda ignored dealer and media criticism over the past years that it failed to offer what Americans really wanted: big, body-on-frame, V-8-powered SUVs and pickups.