Behind the curtain at Honda

    All of this required tradeoffs along the way. Since there were limits to the size and weight of the vehicle, each added feature had to be balanced by something else.

    Creating four inches of width in the second row for the middle-seat passenger, for instance, meant widening the Odyssey and losing arm rests on the outboard seats. But the planners decided not to make the sliding door track less visible by burying it beneath the window because that would have required moving the door motor.

    And they determined that they would not offer all-wheel-drive because it would have added weight and cost would, and it would only appeal to 5-7% of potential buyers.

    Also left on the cutting room floor: keyless start, adaptive cruise control, and the option for a four-cylinder engine.

    Packaging all of these options in a way that made sense to customers as well as the factory where the vans are assembled was the next challenge. So Honda sorted them into seven trim levels, from LX, starting at $28,580, to the $44,030 Touring Elite -- and then had to figure out what percentage of overall sales each one will get so the right number of parts could be ordered.

    Planners expect the minivan segment to grow by approximately 13% and for the Odyssey to ring up sales of 110,000 vehicles annually. That's down from the peak sales year of 177,919. But this is the new normal, and if Odyssey hits that target, it will be a very important sign that planners have done their job right.