UK motorists are making greener choices when it comes to buying SUVs, claims Honda, as sales of smaller SUVs like the CR-V continue to climb.
While the SUV sector fell by 4% last year, sales of the Honda CR-V increased by 28% from January to July in 2007 over the same period in 2006.
If this strikes you as phenomenal sales growth, it’s worth pointing out that the 2006 sales figures are for the previous-generation CR-V. Naughty Honda!
Honda puts the growth down to its ‘Not all SUVs are the same’ marketing campaign, which stresses relative size and green-ness of the CR-V compared to other models in the sector.
“Our customers asked us how to defend themselves from so-called ‘Anti-4x4 protesters’," says Vicky Mason, Customer Dialogue Manager at Honda.
“And their response to this campaign has been incredible. More people have reacted to this campaign than any other – even more than competitions to win a car! Our customers were pleased to see us getting involved with the debate."
Honda aims to sell 21,000 CR-Vs in 2007.