Without a two-row midsize crossover, Honda figured it was losing as many as 35,000 U.S. sales a year.
But with the 2019 Passport, which goes on sale Feb. 4 and will be positioned between the CR-V and Pilot, Honda thinks it has plugged that hole in its lineup.
"The primary role the vehicle serves is to keep our customers in the family," said Jay Joseph, assistant vice president of product planning at Honda Division. "In 2017, we looked at our customer outflow and we lost about 35,000 customers into this segment of vehicles, into two-row, midsize, generally V-6 powered, but more powerful SUVs."
When Honda asked former customers why they switched to a competitor, they said they were looking for something more substantial, more powerful and more sophisticated than the compact CR-V.
"But they didn't want to drive something as family-oriented as the Pilot," Joseph told Automotive News during the vehicle's media introduction here. "They didn't want that third row. They didn't want the size."
Four trims
The Passport has the same 111-inch wheelbase as the Pilot, but it is 6.2 inches shorter and 0.8 inches taller than the three-row crossover.
Honda also gave the Passport a handful of unique styling touches, such as black body cladding, a sportier front end, reworked rear gate, steeper rear window angle and 20-inch wheels in black or gray depending on the trim.
"From the beginning the team strove to not create a five-passenger Pilot," said Lara Harrington, chief engineer and Passport development leader.
Honda expects the Passport customer to be younger, single or dual-income with no children and to have a high household income.
It will be offered in four trims: Sport, EX-L, Touring and Elite, with EX-L expected to be the volume level. All-wheel drive is optional on all trims except the range-topping Elite, where it is standard. Pricing was not announced.
Light trucks
Once Honda dealers understood what was behind the brand's outflow of customers, they "demanded" a two-row midsize crossover, he said.
Honda believes the Passport will make up for the customers who have moved to other brands — and then some.
"We think this segment should enable us to do 45,000 a year," Joseph said. "That's the number that we've shared with dealers. We're not sticking to the number, but we can't build a whole lot more than that. We'd have to trade something else off."
The Passport is built alongside the Odyssey, Pilot and Ridgeline in Lincoln, Ala.
Thanks to the Passport's off-road abilities, Honda believes it will ride in the sweet spot of a group that includes the Chevrolet Blazer, Ford Edge, Jeep Grand Cherokee, Nissan Murano and Toyota 4Runner. The Passport arrives as U.S. consumers continue to shift from cars, with industry sales nearing 70 percent light trucks. Honda's sales mix is closer to 50-50, Joseph said.
"Our strategy is to keep doing what we're good at with cars," he said, "but there are more customers for us out there with light trucks.
"That's easy business for us to get. This is kind of a no-brainer for us. The segment is strong, the segment is forecasted to grow."
