Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

Honda Ridgeline to take two-year dirt nap before resurrection

Three years ago, Honda said there would be no new-generation Honda Ridgeline coming in 2011. In late 2011, when there was still no word on a replacement for the little truck that's been carrying on pretty much the same since 2006, within the space of a month both Honda's US truck planner and the CEO of American Honda said the Ridgeline would continue and that it was an integral part of the lineup.

But that doesn't mean it can't take a two-year timeout. A report in Ward's Auto says that the Lincoln, AL plant that builds the Ridgeline will cease its production in September, 2014 and a new one won't arrive until 2016. That's a walk-back from when the plan was to have the current truck run until a week before the next-generation truck went into production. Even so, Honda still says the Ridgeline isn't going away forever, a company spokesman telling Ward's, "Ridgeline continues to be an important part of our lineup."

2016 is a long way away, though, and we all know how quickly a product line put into a coma can end up suffering fatal consequences. Even though we keep talking about the Ridgeline, perhaps what Honda is actually saying is that the small pickup market is important to them, and they're working on a way to take better advantage of it than the Ridgeline was doing. We'll find out one way or the other in three years.

http://www.autoblog.com/2013/07/14/h...-resurrection/

1sWt2GS

iTrader: (6)

Its just not as popular as the American F150's, Chevy's, or even tacoma and tundra.

GSteg

iTrader: (15)

Why limit yourself to just 2 years?

tmf2004

iTrader: (15)

my thoughts exactly

mmarshall

Probably no other new vehicle-market in the world is as difficult to break into as full-sized American pickups. Cowboys, ranchers, construction workers, handymen, short-haulers, (and the trucker wanna-bes that like to pretend) all know that they want.....big, full-size, ladder-frame pickups with V8 engines. As noted, even the Titan and Tundra had trouble breaking into it. But, with the Tundra, it was Toyota's own fault for a dozen years after the original T-100/150 was introduced, because, until the 2Gen Tundra, they refused to market a TRUE full-sized pickup in America, and American truck-buyers weren't fooled.

1sWt2GS

iTrader: (6)

exactly! now imagine the ridgeline trying to sneak its way in there with all the other big trucks not gonna happen!

mmarshall

Of course, that's not to take away anything from the Ridgeline at what it does do well. It is extremely well-built, assembled (like most Honda/Acura products) with the precision of a Swiss watch, combines a unit-body with a semi-ladder-frame (but not a true ladder-frame), and incorporates several cleverly-designed multi-use compartments. But it is a mid-sized product, and simply not a big macho work-truck like so many truck-buyers want.

Sulu

Being built on a FWD/AWD platform, rather than a true RWD platform, reduces the Ridgeline's towing capabilities, making it more of a SUV/CUV-with-a-cargo-bed than a true pickup truck. Even if most pickup truck owners will never tow (or unlikely tow something larger than a small, light trailer, which a mid- or full-size car can tow), American pickup trucks compete on their claims to be able to tow 10,000 to 11,000+ pounds.

You would never see the Ridgeline tow the Space Shuttle.

pvmike1

Ridgelines are great trucks. They can do double duty for groceries with the large, under-bed trunk, and can seat 5 comfortably. It can tow 5,000 lbs, which is plenty for most.

Unfortunately, Honda has let it languish without any engine upgrades over the years. It was refreshed once with updated gear ratios and updated front end/interior, and that's it. People buy the Ridgeline for utility, not looks, so what it really needs is more power!

CK6Speed

iTrader: (1)

The Ridgeline was a great driving truck. I bought my dad a Tacoma Double Cab a few years ago and the Tacoma is a great truck, but it doesn't handle that well when it comes to my style of street driving. The Ridegline drives as close to a car on the street as any truck I've driven. Most people don't buy trucks to actually haul stuff and town stuff around everyday as a true work truck. They buy trucks as daily drivers that can haul and tow stuff once in a while when needed.

SteVTEC

Honda is so full of crap and empty and broken promises, and the Ridgeline is another great example.

Previous Honda exec statements about the Ridgeline...

- that they were going to introduce a "high-torque" V6, such as maybe a variant of the 3.7L V-6 they had going for the RL and another car or two at one point, retuned for truck duty? Never happened.

- that they were going to introduce a turbodiesel V6 for it which would have been awesome, but this has been yet another empty and broken promise by Honda that has never seen the light of day either. Never happened.

- Heck, not Ridgeline specific but Honda had promised at one point a full line of diesel powered vehicles in the U.S. to the point that some friends and I were very seriously considering setting up a Honda specific diesel vehicle website. Glad we never bothered, because Honda didn't either.

I'm not sure what to believe anymore about Honda. Either a lot of these public statements they make are designed PURELY to gauge public reaction with which to make internal decisions on and counting on the fact that most people and the automotive press have short memories and are never going to remember what they even say in the first place and hold them accountable, or Honda product management really is that freaking clueless and indecisive and so locked down by endless cycles of analysis paralysis that they never end up making any decisions at all, and hence we have a design that's way old and has never been significantly updated? And then they wonder why sales have dropped off to nothing? Maybe you should update it??

There. That should count as my once every month or so Honda rant.

tmf2004

iTrader: (15)

The ridgeline has just faded away just like Honda's other model vehicles..

TRDFantasy

Yup. Screw Honda.