Honda’s new HR-V creates excitement with customers

Early Friday morning on May 15, Legends Honda received an email from an excited customer. She had pre-ordered the 2016 HR-V, a new product on the Honda line.

The release date to dealership for the HR-V was May 15.

“The lady who bought this one, she knew it was going to be here Friday so she had emailed us at 7:30 in the morning and asked to let her know when it was here,” said Ryan Maher, dealer manager at Legends Honda at 10050 Parallel Parkway in Kansas City, Kan.

“She was calling about every couple of hours waiting for it to be here.”

A new model tends to produce this type of excitement, especially if you are one of the first in the city to drive it around town.

“We saw it come in on the truck and we called her, and she was here within 15 minutes,” Maher said. “It was pretty neat to see. It is great when you have that customer who is really excited.

“After sending it through service to make sure everything was OK, early that afternoon she was driving it out as one of the first one in Kansas City with an HR-V.”

Honda is marketing the HR-V as a compact crossover SUV. The crossover SUV is a growing market.

“It adds a new dimension of the type of customer we are after,” said Shane Loya, general sales manager at Legends Honda. The market it is going for is the Generation Y customers.”

Generally, Generation Y includes people born to baby boomers from 1982 through 1993.

Loya said the HR-V will be competing against the Nissan Juke, the Kia Soul and the Jeep Renegade.

Maher said there is a lot to like about the HR-V. Its size is appealing for customers looking for a smaller SUV.

“It is more fuel efficient, but something that will give them the utility of a SUV,” Maher said. “The features and the technology inside, they really upped their game there, appealing to the younger driver.

“Honda took what they were hearing from their customers and built a whole new platform.”

The price range is from $19,100 to $25,800. The EPA mileage estimates range from 25 miles per gallon in city driving to 35 mpg on the highway.

A new style of car or SUV generally raises interest from customers loyal to that brand.

“We have had a lot of interest, especially this past weekend from people who have been reading about it on blogs and all over the Internet,” Maher said. “They just want to come in and see it.

“They will say, ‘Let’s take a look at the HR-V.’ They might feel the HR-V is too small and they will look at the CR-V. They might be driving a Pilot now and be curious in the HR-V’s size and they will start looking at the new Pilot.”

Coming out near the holiday weekend was perfect for Legends Honda.

“We get quite a bit of traffic,” Maher said. “We pump out some Memorial Day sales. There are customers who wait until that time. They have a little more time off to shop.”

Maher said Legends Honda currently has six HR-Vs on the lot. He is confident this is a vehicle that will sell well.

“Honda has a pretty loyal customer base, so they are always interested in seeing something new come out,” Maher said. “It has the Honda reliability. Customers know it is a vehicle they can keep for years. You can drive it for hundreds of thousands of miles and have the same reliability as other Hondas.”

This story was originally published May 30, 2015 at 12:50 AM.