Bye-bye Element, at the end of the 2011 model-year.
The innovative, if controversial Honda Element will be pulled from production at the end of the 2011 model-year, the Japanese maker has announced.
Launched in 2002, as a 2003 model, the Element was an archetype of the boxy design niche that has gone from unique to near-mainstream, with the launch of competitors like the Kia Soul, Scion xB and Nissan Cube.
“It made boxy vehicle designs cool,” said John Mendel, executive vice president of American Honda. “The Element proved that ultimate functionality can often come from thinking inside the box.”
Honda took a number of small steps to try to keep Element fresh, adding more power and safety features in 2007, for example, and even launching the Dog Friendly Element accessory package in 2009.
But it failed to come up with a complete makeover in a segment where hipness and freshness are critical. Some owners wandered off to competitors like the Soul, the hot seller in the boxy segment, right now. Others stayed within the Honda franchise but shifted to more mainstream offerings, such as the similarly-sized CR-V crossover.
It's Elementary, the Kia Soul continues the boxy design trend even as the Honda Element vanishes.
Whatever the reason, sales have been on a steady downward slide. While the Honda brand posted a 15.9% increase last month – and with the CR-V gaining 25.4% — the Element dropped 11.5% compared to year-earlier levels.
Sales for the year-to-date are off 3.4%, and total volume was a miniscule 12,960. That’s a huge plunge from the Element’s peak, early in the last decade. Since its launch, Honda has sold 325,000 copies of the box-on-wheels here in the U.S. But it appears the maker decided it couldn’t expect enough volume, going forward, to justify a complete redesign.
While the Honda Element may be soon to land on the automotive rust heap, the overall box-mobile segment appears to be gaining still more ground, so other makers may yet try to test their luck.
This is bad news as far as I’m concerned. I own a 2006 Element EXP. It’s been the best, most reliable, most versatile vehicle I’ve ever owned. I use it daily to commute to work, take it through the snow and ice to go skiing, haul a trailer with dirtbikes or contruction supplies for home renovation projects (often way past the official weight limit), attach and detach roof racks for bicycles and skis and the trailer hitch, I take it to the grocery store, and I clean it out about once a year (love the lack of carpet). I’d camp in it if I was into camping. If I were to lose my home thanks to the Great Recession, I’d probably live in it (paid off in 2007, thanks in part to it being so cheap). It’s the one car to have if you only have one car. My only complaint is the gas mileage is only 22-24 MPG, no matter what. I’ve been holding off even thinking about replacing it with anything until I saw the next gen Element. No doubt a lot of other current Element owners were waiting for the same thing. The only two good things about this situation are that it will probably keep running just fine for at least another 5 years and the market price for used Elements will probably go up when you can’t get a new one. Bummer overall, though. Oh yeah, designed and built in America too.
I was a little surprise, too, Bryan, until I looked at sales for the Element, which have dropped to near-nothing. I just don’t think Honda could come up with a good idea for a redesign and thought it easier to focus on the CR-V, hoping some or most Element buyers would migrate over. I’m not sure folks like you will, however.
The question is whether this lack of creativity reflects on the entire Honda product development process. They’ve certainly done well with the CR-V and the new Odyssey, but not so well with the rest of their newer offerings.
Paul A. Eisenstein
Publisher, TheDetroitBureau.com
Hi Paul. As I understand it the sales figures for some of Honda’s other offerings aren’t much better. Like the Ridgeline for example. And what about that god-awful Crosstour? How many of those are they selling? No, I wouldn’t consider a CRV as a replacement. The Element has better, if not more, space and no carpet. The CRV is a suburban errands car. The Element put the utility back into SUV. Like, you I find the Ford Transit Connect interesting, and a case could be made that it is Element-like. But it lacks four wheel drive, ground clearance (not that the Element has as much of that as it should), and it’s made in Turkey instead of Ohio. I can’t see taking a Transit Connect on skiing trip. Guess I’ll keep my exisitng Element (87,000 miles) for quite a while.
At least that’s one thing that Honda’s let you do, Bryan. They do last.
I am not convinced that Honda is well-positioned for the future. Agreed about the CrossTour, though it is a better execution than the embarrassing Acura ZDX, a vehicle that should never have made it to market.
Paul E.