| CdnColin |
I was advised today that my '09 Pilot 'Touring' in Sterling Grey, ordered June 30th, has been delayed again. Its gone from a mid July build to a late August build due to a "production problem". The late August build is being described as a maybe.
Does anyone know the cause of this 'production problem' and if it only effects the Touring model?
In Canada there are no options for the Touring. They all are 4X with Navi. and RES. etc etc. |
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| craniotes |
Honda recently cut back on production of the Pilot in response to the overall lack of demand for SUVs in the domestic marketplace (heck, they're not the only auto manufacturer doing this right now). Who knows, maybe this decision is affecting outstanding orders.
That said, from a dealer's perspective I would think it would make more sense to be up front about production delays due to plant shutdowns, rather than lie about "production problems"...
Basically, don't listen to me.
Regards,
Adam |
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| CdnColin |
I believe the dealer is being upfront with me and there is some kind of issue with production. Our dealer will be providing us with a free loaner next week until my Pilot arrives. They searched all of Quebec and Ontario for a dealer trade but no Touring available in our colour.
Sales in Canada of the '09 Pilot are up significantly from last year. One would think if Honda has 90 days inventory in the U.S. and the Canadian market is hot, they would build the Canadian models.
The Cdn$ list up here is about $10,000 more than the US$ list. If they are making the Touring models I would be sending them north. |
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| jl_ss |
| The 1st year MDX redesign suffered a number of interior and exterior issues (fit/finish/safety) that buyers were not happy about. Perhaps Honda is delaying production to address an issue so that it does not have to be corrected later. Buying a first year major redesign is risky, so the more issues addressed before they deliver yours, the better. |
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| sblvro |
| :rolleyes: maybe they are redesigning the front grill:4: |
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| bdac2k |
Where are the Pilots that are shipped to Canada being made?
Our dealer informed us that it takes 4 days to make the vehicle and 10-14 days to ship the vehicle. With that said, our Touring was assembled during the last week of July and is in shipment for this coming week.
There is an over abundance of Pilots on dealer lots in the US. I know the situation in Canada is opposite. Using cars.com, I found over 300 Pilots within a 100mile radius sitting on dealer lots. |
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| CdnColin |
| The Canadian Pilots are all coming out of Lincoln Alabama. The only real differnce is the metric instrumention. |
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| krygny |
quote:
Originally posted by CdnColin
...
Its gone from a mid July build to a late August build due to a "production problem".
...
(cough-cough ... bluh- bluh-) BLOWJOB!!
(ahak- ahak) AHANDJOB!! |
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| LeedDog |
quote:
Originally posted by sblvro
:rolleyes: maybe they are redesigning the front grill:4:
They already have a redesign - it's the optional accessory grille. It looks much better. I had it installed in my Touring. They should make it standard in the Touring model. |
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| CdnColin |
As a new Junior member I appreciate the input from a 'Super Senior Member'. I hope the other 2418 posts where as insightful.
My dealers Sales Manager put the optional chrome grill on his '09. It does look good. I seem to be in a minority as the 09 Pilot front end looks fine to me. I was offered his Sterling Grey Pilot with the optional grill. Running boards at no cost but it has 5,000 km on it. We chose to wait for a fresh one. |
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| jb9573 |
The production date on the vehicle we ordered was supposed to be 8/6-8/10. Called today and the dealer said there is no change on the status of our unit. So does anybody have confirmation that the Touring models are indeed delayed? Any suggestions on how to find out when ours might actually get produced?
Thanks in advance! Looking forward to interacting with the hondapilot.org community!
-John (future '09 4WD Touring Black/Black no RES owner) |
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| afs12065 |
quote:
Originally posted by CdnColin
I was advised today that my '09 Pilot 'Touring' in Sterling Grey, ordered June 30th, has been delayed again. Its gone from a mid July build to a late August build due to a "production problem". The late August build is being described as a maybe.
Does anyone know the cause of this 'production problem' and if it only effects the Touring model?
In Canada there are no options for the Touring. They all are 4X with Navi. and RES. etc etc.
It will be interesting to see if you get any additional information on this. It may not be so much of a production problem as a supply chain problem. Maybe one of the component suppliers has had a problem, maybe demand exceeded planned supply and they weren't prepared to deal with that or maybe they were affected by the weather in the mid-western part of the country, etc. It may not mean a "problem" with the vehicle in particular.
I know my dealer said that for a period of time in June/July it was impossible to get Civic Hybrids, etc. from Japan imported to the west coast and over to the eastern part of the country - multiple weeks in delays - because of not being able to cross flooded areas, rivers, etc. Completely out of their control.
The only "problem" I've had with my 09 is that the body side molding on the rear passenger side door was installed too far forward and didn't leave enough clearance to open the door. It "caught" the front one 2 weeks after I took delivery and ended up damaging both of them in one fell swoop. Dealer replaced them promptly under warranty and all has been well since. No other issues or fit/finish concerns. |
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| N_Jay |
| The production problem, is your dealer selling his allotment of production at higher prices or to more fickle customers. |
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| afs12065 |
quote:
Originally posted by N_Jay
The production problem, is your dealer selling his allotment of production at higher prices or to more fickle customers.
Wow, well thankfully you were able to explain all of that to us.
Now how does that apply to special orders that were delayed for the same reason? The cars in question were special orders with new owners awaiting their arrival - just as the poster here is experiencing. |
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| N_Jay |
quote:
Originally posted by afs12065
Wow, well thankfully you were able to explain all of that to us.
Now how does that apply to special orders that were delayed for the same reason? The cars in question were special orders with new owners awaiting their arrival - just as the poster here is experiencing.
Honda does not do special orders (unless something has changed recently).
A special order is just your dealership finding (or trading for) a car on it's allotment that matches your desires.
Yes, cars "fall off" the allotment without explanation sometimes, but more often it was sold to a better or more profitable customer (or the dealers wife wanted it). |
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| krygny |
Wait a second ... are some here actually under the impression that, if you place an order at the dealer for a specified vehicle, that order goes to the assembly plant?!!
:5: :21: :19: :2: :headshak: |
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| techgirl |
My experience is that sometimes an order goes to Honda to build one; however, most of the time the dealer searches other dealer inventories and delivery schedules to find one. If they find one at another dealer that they will work with (even car dealers have trouble with car dealers) then they try to work out an inventory trade. As you may know, inventory trades aren't always like model for like model.
So it is possible that there could be a dealer out there holding your Pilot until your dealer gets a delivery of Fits or Civics, etc. to complete a trade.
Then again, it seems as if inventory in Canada may be moving a bit more briskly than it is in the US and no dealers are willing to trade such a precious vehicle. A similar thing happened during the 2008 Pilot model closeout once the inventory levels were low.
I don't believe that American Honda or Honda Canada step in and play referee or traffic cop between dealers to work out inventory trades.
Once you, finally, get your Pilot you can look at the sticker on the driver's door jamb or decode the VIN to determine the month of manufacture.
Of course, the delay in getting your Pilot may just be a minor production issue - such as a parts shortage or a just a matter of how Honda is scheduling vehicle builds.
Remember that Honda is reworking their assembly lines as they move vehicle production between facilities to keep production balanced and avoid staff layoffs. |
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| Jet-Pilot-64 |
quote:
Originally posted by LeedDog
They already have a redesign - it's the optional accessory grille. It looks much better. I had it installed in my Touring. They should make it standard in the Touring model.
Please post a picture! |
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| N_Jay |
quote:
Originally posted by techgirl
My experience is that sometimes an order goes to Honda to build one;
My understanding is Honda does NOT do this.
Tim? Tiebreaker? |
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| sblvro |
quote:
Originally posted by techgirl
My experience is that sometimes an order goes to Honda to build one; however, most of the time the dealer searches other dealer inventories and delivery schedules to find one. If they find one at another dealer that they will work with (even car dealers have trouble with car dealers) then they try to work out an inventory trade. As you may know, inventory trades aren't always like model for like model.
So it is possible that there could be a dealer out there holding your Pilot until your dealer gets a delivery of Fits or Civics, etc. to complete a trade.
Then again, it seems as if inventory in Canada may be moving a bit more briskly than it is in the US and no dealers are willing to trade such a precious vehicle. A similar thing happened during the 2008 Pilot model closeout once the inventory levels were low.
I don't believe that American Honda or Honda Canada step in and play referee or traffic cop between dealers to work out inventory trades.
Once you, finally, get your Pilot you can look at the sticker on the driver's door jamb or decode the VIN to determine the month of manufacture.
Of course, the delay in getting your Pilot may just be a minor production issue - such as a parts shortage or a just a matter of how Honda is scheduling vehicle builds.
Remember that Honda is reworking their assembly lines as they move vehicle production between facilities to keep production balanced and avoid staff layoffs.
if that's the case then do they take canadian delivery? where you can visit the factory plant(warehouse?) and see how they build your honda pilot? are they doing it like bmw, volvo and porsche?:rolleyes: |
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| N_Jay |
quote:
Originally posted by sblvro
if that's the case then do they take canadian delivery? where you can visit the factory plant(warehouse?) and see how they build your honda pilot? are they doing it like bmw, volvo and porsche?:rolleyes:
Let's get confirmation, that it IS the case before we start extending the case. |
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| deparson |
At one point a few years ago Toyota had a vision of building nearly all of their US vehicles to order. I don't recall what the order to delivery target was but it was something really low like 10 days.
If a model like that could be made to work it would take billions of dollars of cost out of the system. |
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| jb9573 |
Ours (a 4WD Touring without RES) was scheduled for production between Wed. of last week and last Sun., a 5 day window, and it showed up today on our dealer's lot about 6 hours from the plant. Status in Honda's system just changed yesterday or the day before to "in transit" but it apparently never showed an estimated delivery date.
So overall, I'm very pleased and it appears there aren't any production problems (unless the RES is causing delays). |
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| Bowzer |
This is more fodder really as I don't have aninside line to Honda or anything. But Honda has never accepted special order circumstances in the past. Unlike GM, you don't get to fill out a form and it goes into production. Much of Honda's success and pricing strategy has gone into limited trim options/categories to keep the manufacturing simplified. As a result of their success, they really have no compelling reason to change that to provide a custom order option. May change one day but I have not heard of it changing now.
As mentioned by others, the dealer may lead you to believe they have an inside line to such a feature to get you obligated with a deposit. But, they actually just go out and search for one you want...if not readily available, then they put it on their list pulling from their allotment and hope to see it come in. ANd since many times there are others looking for the same feature list coming into the same dealer, they are more than happy to sell that allotted model if they can get a higher price. It's an easy selling risk since you already have a deposit involved and would be more inclined to keep waiting. Instead of telling you it's been sold for a higher price, easier to tell you there's some mystical production problem, sit on your deposit longer, and count on your sale to be completed only when more convenient and favorable for the dealer. If you get upset enough...they magically locate one before you walk.
If you just have to have a particular set of features, involve multiple dealers and the first one who delivers gets the sale. No deposits should need be involved unless you lock a price...and then you should require the VIN of the vehicle to be delivered with specific requirements on its condition and mileage when picked up. |
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| N_Jay |
quote:
Originally posted by N_Jay
My understanding is Honda does NOT do this.
Tim? Tiebreaker?
Someone is very quiet???? |
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| CdnColin |
We have received a serial number today from our dealer. My Pilot was built early last week and we expect to take delivery late this week. Never did find out what the production problem was. Appears they won't have to provide that free loaner.
Will post some pictures once its received. Very interested to see the dash at night and play with the toys.
This is my first Honda other than the lawnmower and snowblower. Have had several Corvettes ('58, '64', '67 and '72) Last vehicle that got me as anxious to receive was my Taurus SHO.
L8R |
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| klam |
Hi,
I was looking for a 2009 Sterling Grey EX-L but the fleet manager checked and told me that in the state of California none was to be found. He also mentioned that it's possible Honda did not start production of that color yet. |
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| CdnColin |
| Two closest dealers both have an EX-L Sterling Grey in stock. Our dealer also received today a Dark Cherry Touring, not sure if its sold. Looks like the Touring models are again rolling into Canada. Our Sterling Grey seems to have been loaded on a slow truck. We have to wait until early next week to take delivery and this weekend looks perfect. :( |
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