[Civil]

Some good news from Honda today. Honda's CEO has said that he will prioritize quality improvements over the companies goal of selling 6 million cars a year starting in April 2016. I think this is good news for a few reasons.

First, when car makers emphasize sales first, quality tends to suffer. Look a Toyota and GM past. So I think that it is important to get your priorities right.

Second, automakers have been recalling vehicles like crazy this year, which should inspire some introspection in the market. Certainly there is something wrong with quality controls in the auto industry, so really this should be near the top of priorities for all auto makers.

Honda has built its reputation on quality, so without it, the floor will have dropped out from under them.

"My heart aches over the fact that our customers have been injured or killed in our products with air bags," Honda Chief Executive Takanobu Ito told reporters at an event to launch the new hybrid Legend model.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/10/us-autos-takata-honda-idUSKCN0IU03Z20141110

 

[Civil]

I don't think that it is about sales volume. I think that a better target is profit margins. Certainly focusing on quality does not look exactly the same as focusing on volume. I think the whole point of this post and the article linked to it is that growth doesn't necessarily have to mean more volume. Other things can take priority.

 

[Civil]

No, in the language of manufacturing growth means volume 366 days per year EVERY YEAR.

I am playing off of this quote from Jalopnik.

The pursuit of higher sales rarely results in higher quality. Look at Toyota. Look at GM. Look at Volkswagen. Profits are actually a better goalpost.