DETROIT — Even if the global economy recovers and
industry sales rebound, surviving in the global automotive industry isn’t going
to get easier, John Mendel, executive vice president of Honda in
America, said Thursday.
“I think the greatest challenges for our industry still
lie ahead,” Mendel said during a speech at the Automotive News World
Congress inDetroit.
The biggest challenges, Mendel said, include developing the
technology and powertrains necessary to power global vehicles and facing new
competitors.
In the past, Mendel said the automotive industry
underestimated Japanese and Korean automakers. Now, the industry faces an
entirely new set of competitors emerging from India and China.
“They are still relatively young but have vast human
resources and encouragement from their governments,” as well as a
tremendous entrepreneurial drive, Mendel said.
Mendel said he is worried that Chinese and Indian automakers
will find a way to sell cars in the U.S. that is completely different than the
independent franchised system in place today that remains unpopular with
consumers.
In an interview on Tuesday, Mendel told the Detroit
Free Press his biggest nightmare is that Chinese competitors will sell
cars at Sam’s Clubor other major retail stores and allow quick lube places
to provide service.
Today, Mendel said Honda remains as committed to
its U.S. network of independent dealers as it has in the past but said the
franchised distribution model must be improved.
“We need to pursue new strategies and pursue a strategy
to be an innovative force in the industry,” Mendel said, without
elaborating.
Mendel said Honda is in discussions with its
dealership councils to find ways to reduce the time it takes to buy a car, as well
as other ways to improve the dealership experience. Right now, on average, he
said it takes two to four hours to buy a car after the customer makes a
decision.
“What if it took 30 minutes?” he asked.
Honda, once a new competitor in the U.S., now builds in the
United States 84 percent of the vehicles it sells here and is part of the
established automotive industry.
“We are now not only a hunter, but we are now among the
hunted,” he said.
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