TORRANCE, Calif. 02/01/2006 --

American Honda Motor Co., Inc., posted record January sales of 98,394 Honda and Acura vehicles, up 20.7 percent from January 2005, the company announced today. Honda Division also broke records for the eighth consecutive month, with sales up 24.4 percent over January last year to 84,413 vehicles.

Honda Division light truck sales surged 17.6 percent to 37,124 on the strength of Pilot, Odyssey, and Element, while the redesigned 2006 Civic helped drive Honda car sales up 30.4 percent to 47,289 units.

"With annual sales increases for each of the past 12 years, we are committed to continued growth in 2006, despite an increasingly competitive market," said Dick Colliver, executive vice president of American Honda. "Others in the industry are tightening their belts, but we remain committed to steady, incremental growth. The addition of new models, including the Fit in April and the all new CR-V in the fall should push us to another record year in 2006."

Increasing consumer awareness of the Honda Pilot as a class leader in safety content, coupled with the improved fuel economy offered by models equipped with Honda's Variable Cylinder Managementœ (VCMœ), contributed to Pilot's best-ever January with sales up 13.1 percent to 9,999. Sales of Element and Odyssey also grew 14.2 and 10.3 percent, respectively.

Recently named North American Car of the Year, the all-new 2006 Civic Sedan, Coupe and Hybrid models' combination of exciting styling and thrifty fuel economy helped push the Civic to another January record with sales up 56.2 percent, while Accord sales grew 9.8 percent.
Acura Division posted record January sales of 13,981 vehicles, an increase of 2.3 percent over January 2005. Strong sales of Acura's performance luxury sedans helped set a new monthly record of 10,140 for total cars, breaking a 16-year-old record of 10,087 set in 1990.

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For more information or downloadable high-resolution images of Honda and Acura vehicles, please visit www.hondanews.com. Consumer information is available at www.honda.com.

hmmmm....
maybe the painted panels HAVE made a difference to the E's appeal?!

If they would take the "eyebrow" speedo from the Civic and put it in the Element, that would rock!

I was part of that "big increase" in January and it was because of the painted panels AND the availability of the Tangerine Metallic paint. So, yes, it may have something to do with the new look - it did for me. I liked the E before but I HAD to have the all painted Tangerine Metallic - knew as soon as I saw it I would be buying it.
Wonder how many others are buying primarily because of the "new" look and the two "new" colors? I already liked the concept and the price and the vehicle and felt it was exactly what I wanted so it was NOT the new look that was the primary reason for buying, but it sure made me want to buy NOW.

Here (http://www.hondanews.com/CatID1007?mid=2006020150249&mime=asc) is the whole press release, including the raw sales figures.

Thanks outpost4. A 14.2% sales increase over last Jan. is indeed a big jump in E sales.:)

hopefully as some people will soon be getting there tax retunds back they will decide to put it down on an Element and make the numbers continue to rise. time will tell but i do have faith.

It's been about 6 months since I've been on these boards and it's really nice to see the E get such a big sales boost after sales were dropping in 2005. Even though I still love the grey panels on my FBP E, I think the painted panels on the new 2006's look pretty sweet. I saw all silver E yesterday and it's definitely a dramatic improvement over the old dark-grey-panels-on-silver-body, and the all tangerine E is as hot as it gets. Let's here it for America's monochrome preference!

I definately purchased mine due to the new paint job!

hmmmm....
maybe the painted panels HAVE made a difference to the E's appeal?!

Maybe it is the old folks just trying to look cool now :wink: