No innovation any more.

It may sound crusty and fuddy-duddy, but I think most 'innovation' in cars for about 10 years has been in ever cruder styling and more expensive and rather useless gizmos inside. Once wind-tunnel testing had shown the optimal shape there weren't many new ways forward. New slots in the spectrum had to be retro, which has happened a bit. Maybe we need some more back-to-basics designs - we've tried most of the silly lamp shapes now.

Probably why so many people are hanging onto their mid 2000s cars, me included.

No Innovation? Really?

They've launched the latest CR-V with a hybrid drivetrain that European rivals, still wedded to diesel and facing massive diesel ROI write-offs as the market tanks, would gladly have on their production lines...

The new Jazz carries the CR-V drivetrain, in scaled down form, and nothing but, whilst retaining the Jazz's famed practicality.

As many on this forum will support, when Honda make diesels they made class-leading ones. The 1.6 i-DTEC being the best example, and a great used buy.

They're smart enough to make an EV focussed on the 60% of car journeys that are under 5 miles, and not get hung up on the lopsided range debate.

Oh, and the Civic Type R is the best hot hatch of this generation, bar none. Yes, it's a visual challenge, but they know that, because that's what a confident engineering company does.

The Jazz has apparently gone backwards in terms of its reliability (latest version);

The Civic is a huge car for a C-Sector vehicle. The Accord is no longer sold in the UK and isn't that much bigger than the Civic anyway (pointless).

The Civic 1.5T has had a significant reliability issue regrading oil diluation (similar to the diesels in other makes);

The Civic Type R, whilst great to drive on a track, is no longer either a good looking car or an affordable hot hatch. 10x as many were sold in the mid 2000s as now because they only cost £2k - £3k more than standard versions. They were more than quick enough for most people.

Whilst the newer cars have improved the visuals of the dashboards, this has been compensated by them stupidly using touchscreens instead of dials and proper buttons for the ICE volume and ventilation/AC controls, which is potentially dangerous.

Other cars have moved on with the performance, handling and looks, not sure if Honda have.

The diesel line up is good, but now that's going out of favour due to changes in government policy.

Let's hope they can turn the corner, as I've always had a soft spot for them up until recently. They need to get their act together because wole generations of car buyers are not considering them any more, not just on looks, but because there are better cars dynamically out there, and Hyundai/KIA are catching up rapidly in terms of reliability/longevity and are well ahead on the value side.

If they aren't selling in Oz and the UK just where is their target market? Some serious mismanagement at the top. Suzuki are doing fine. Sales up 4.1pct in 2018 and they dont have an Estate car or a Sports car.

Development costs to come up with the models and model updates that tempt UK and european buyers to put their hands in their pockets have obviously been calculated as non recoverable given the size of the market. There's no profit to be made.

Honda used to be run by engineers - it's now run by beancounters.