Rumors are Flying Now/ Honda Getting in Game?

[Lennart]

we waited 7 years for yamaha to bring the sport sxs , we can wait another 7 for honda to bring one too...lol
milos

x2 lol .

[Flying Dog]

Hopefully they do better then Yamaha !

[5150George]

we waited 7 years for yamaha to bring the sport sxs , we can wait another 7 for honda to bring one too...lol
milos

x2 ...

[Yellow Toy]

I would like to see them get into the sport sxs's .

[582RDB]

We'll have to wait and see what time has to bring .

[Beer Mod]

I have my doubts honda will produce anything sporty

[Mike621]

I have my doubts honda will produce anything sporty

I don't know, maybe if they get back to there roots, the Pilot was a cool machine in the late 80's early 90's ,would be nice with more choices out there, would also like to see Kawasaki get a little better sports wise. I think that new Polaris General is going to do well to, like the lay out.


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[FBT]

I was in my local Honda shop getting some parts for my little 1977 CT-70 last week The sales manager there has been in that store for close to 20 years now, I've been trading there for longer than that.
We talked for a few minutes and I asked about a sport class UTV, mentioning that they had the "bones" with the 1000 and the paddle shift trans.
He told me that Honda gets very nervous when people use the words "Sport" and "UTV" in the same sentence. He doesn't think anything is in the pipeline, and he told me he would be surprised if one shows up in the next 5 years.
He went on to say that a lot of the smaller dealers with smaller sq. ft. showrooms and stores in general are not happy with having to use floor space to show the existing and new 700 Pioneers and I think there is a 500 as well. They are not thrilled about adding the 1000 to the mix. He told me at the dealer meetings there is backlash from some of the older franchisees stating things like,"We are motorcycle shops, we don't have the room for these things and our people are not asking for them."
He told me that even some of the warehouses they deal with are complaining about how much room they (the UTV's in shipping crates) take up.
He also pointed out that the sport quad market has slowed down a ton in our corner of the world. So many of the riding area have been closed that they are not really flooring any 450's at all. They can get you one but he tells me that the 450 hasn't seen any upgrades or improvements in 3-4 years. (I have no idea if this is true or not.) Honda is not putting $$ into sport ATV R&D, either.
Looking around that store it is pretty clear the owner is focusing on street bikes and dual sports, and a smattering of straight dirt bikes. or at least that is what he is filling his showroom with. So, if you believe what this man is saying it sounds like the whole infrastructure and dealer support for pushing a full-on sport UTV is, lukewarm at best, and they are not really pushing Honda to get in the game.
While you and I see this as a real lively market, and just looking at Polaris and the success they've had marketing their sport UTV's, and the obvious response from Can Am and now Yamaha you'd think the big Red Machine would want in on a piece of the action, but judging only on "what I heard" the other day I don't think they see things the same way we do, and I don't think a sport 1000 is coming anytime soon.
Of course he could be feeding me a line of BS, but that isn't like him....

[LBR]

Wow....thanx so much for this lengthy insite.....this has the worth of most technical articles.

I have never given thought to owning a small store and having my mfg. forcing me to lose floor space with something I didn't want when I could instead have 4 bikes in that space knowing I could turn them over yearly.

[Flying Dog]

I don't see Honda doing anything anytime soon .