Honda Considering Faster Model Updates To Beat Competition

2010 Honda Accord Sedan

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The new car market is starting to get just a little overcrowded with quality vehicles, and in a time where customers all around the world are cutting back on their spending, things like performance, fuel-economy and overall value is now more important than ever.

Today, it’s hard to find a truly bad car and differentiating between brands, especially in the affordable car segments, is becoming more and more difficult for consumers with every new model roll out.

Honda concedes that this is a major problem and is considering speeding up planned model updates. Honda exec John Mendel said his company plans to beat the competition with new technology and by introducing models in new market sectors, but admits that there will likely have to be more model updates in order to improve quality, reliability and fuel economy.

"We don't have the gap that we had years ago," he revealed at a press event last week in Detroit. "There's nobody out there building junk any more."

For example, Honda has always had a reputation for good quality and fuel efficient cars but today many of its rivals are doing better. Take the Accord sedan, for example. The car is Honda’s top-selling model in the U.S. but Toyota, Nissan, Ford and General Motors all have similar models that are more fuel efficient on the highway.

[Drive]