2015将是“本田之年”？

    无论从哪个角度看，2014年都是本田汽车公司宁愿忘却或掩盖的一年，看看本田为2015年提出的宏大口号——“本田之年”就知道了。

    2015年，本田将开始销售用于民航业的首款飞机——HA-420本田喷气机，以及一款全新的氢燃料电池汽车FCV。该公司还将携一款全新的赛车重返F1方程式赛道。真正的重磅力作可能是讴歌NSX，这是一款将少量投产并销售的油电混合超级汽车。

    本田公司希望NSX将再度彰显其技术致胜的美誉，也希望NSX能提升本田作为高端汽车和卡车制造商的品牌形象。去年美国汽车市场销售增长5.9%，但本田在美销量仅微增1%——这意味着该公司失去了一部分市场份额，最重要的是，本田在与其两大主要对手丰田和日产的角逐中落于下风。

    作为本田的高端品牌，讴歌去年共售出167,843辆，同比微增1.5%。而在美国这一备受豪华车品牌青睐的市场上，丰田的高端品牌雷克萨斯销量增幅为13.7%，宝马增幅为9.8%，奥迪增幅为15.2%，梅赛德斯-奔驰增幅为6.5%。

    1月，因本田未按要求向美国国家公路交通安全管理局汇报各类车辆上发生的1700多起伤亡事故，美国政府向该公司开具7000万美元的高额罚单。

    本田执行副总裁里克•斯考斯特克在一项声明中表示：“我们已经解决了这一问题。本田已经在早期预警报告中采取了一些重大举措来解决过去的缺陷问题，现在我们将更进一步，加强这些举措。我们将继续与国家公路交通安全管理局充分合作，提高透明度，改进报告工作。”

    本田的幸运之处在于，它在美国的客户对其拥有深厚的好感和忠诚度，还因为优质低价的极高性价比受到第三方评测机构的好评。不过，因安全气囊爆开后碎片四溅伤及乘客这一产品缺陷导致的争议，在一定程度上削弱了这个客户基础。

    本田已在美国召回了1000多万辆汽车，修复其安全气囊一项潜在的致命缺陷。这种气囊由日本供应商高田公司制造，其充气装置在发生车祸时会突然爆裂，溅出金属碎片伤及乘客。本田已确认有三起死亡和48起受伤事件与这一问题有关。

    投资者也关注到了本田的这一困境。尽管在席卷全球的金融危机中，本田是全球少数几家能独善其身、避免严重亏损的汽车厂商之一，但在过去几年中，其普通股股价下跌了17.2%，而同期日经225指数却上涨了7.4%，丰田汽车的股价也上涨了19.5%。

    一位本田高管私下里将该公司的很多问题归咎于“运气不好”，而不是内部管理不当或有意失职。也许确实如此。不过本田管理层确实应该认真反省，反复自查，并控制好其管理系统和生产流程，确保客户好感度不再每况愈下。（财富中文网）

    译者：清远

    审校：任文科

    By more than one measure, 2014 is a year the Honda Motor Co. would prefer to forget or to obscure, reflected in a roundabout way by its grand slogan for 2015, “The Year of Honda.”

    It will be a year when the automaker begins selling its first airplane, the HA-420 Hondajet for general aviation, as well as a new hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle, the FCV. Honda will return to the Formula One circuit with a new race car. The cherry on top may be Acura NSX, a gas-electric hybrid supercar that will be built and sold in low volume.

    Honda hopes NSX will burnish its reputational halo for technical expertise. The automaker also wants NSX to help boost Acura’s brand image as a maker of premium cars and trucks. Last year, Honda’s U.S. sales rose 1% against a market that increased by 5.9% – resulting a loss of market share, most importantly, lost ground against its two main rivals, Toyota and Nissan.

    As a brand, Acura sold 167,843 cars and trucks last year, a 1.5% increase. Lexus, Toyota’s premium brand, was up 13.7%; BMW was up 9.8%, Audi was up 15.2% and Mercedes-Benz was up 6.5% in a U.S. market that was very favorable for luxury vehicle manufacturers.

    On January the U.S. government levied a $70 million fine on Honda for failing to disclose, as required, more than 1,700 deaths and injuries in its vehicles to the National Highway Traffic Administration (NHTSA).

    “We have resolved this matter and will move forward to build on the important actions Honda has already taken to address our past shortcomings in early warning reporting,” said RickSchostek, Honda executive vice president, in a statement. “We continue to fully cooperate with NHTSA to achieve greater transparency and to further enhance our reporting practices.”

    Fortunately for Honda, it benefits from a deep reservoir of customer goodwill and loyalty in the U.S., as well as a reputation for building high-quality vehicles that are rated highly by objective third parties for their low cost of ownership. The reservoir was drained somewhat by a product defect controversy resulting from airbag deployments that scattered shrapnel on its victims.

    Honda has recalled more than 10 million vehicles in the U.S. to fix a potentially fatal defect in air bags made by Japanese supplier, Takata. The air bag inflators can rupture after a crash and injure occupants with shards of metal. Honda has confirmed three deaths and 48 injuries in connection with such incidents.

    Investors have noticed Honda’s troubles. The automaker was one of the very few worldwide to avoid deep losses during the global financial crisis. Still, its common shares are down 17.2% over the past year, while the Nikkei 225 Index is up 7.4% and Toyota Motor shares are up 19.5%.

    A Honda executive privately attributed much of its troubles on “bad luck,” as opposed to shoddy business practices or deliberate misbehavior on anyone’s part. Perhaps. The company’s leadership is certain to check, double-check and lock down its systems and processes to ensure the level sinks no lower on its reservoir of good will.