Honda Motor Co., Japan's second- largest automaker, is offering discounted leases on every U.S. model of its namesake brand for the first time to counter incentives started this month by Toyota Motor Corp.
Honda began a promotion this week to let customers lease Accord, Civic and Insight cars and CR-V, Pilot, Element, Odyssey and Ridgeline light trucks with no down payment or security deposit, no money due for a month and waiving of fees when the agreement is signed, said Chris Martin, a spokesman. The program runs until May 3, according to Tokyo-based Honda's Web site.
"The offer is basically across the board, so it's the first time we've ever done that," Martin said yesterday. "The whole industry environment is a factor, so it's not that we specifically targeted Toyota."
Toyota, stung by record recalls and two consecutive months of sales declines, added no-interest loans and lease discounts on most of its U.S. lineup in early March. The Toyota City, Japan-based company said sales at U.S. dealerships jumped 50 percent in the week after its program began.
Offers by Toyota, the world's largest automaker, appear to be helping customer interest, according to auto pricing service Kelley Blue Book.
Irvine, California-based Kelley said that 7 percent of car buyers it surveyed said they weren't considering a Toyota model before its incentives began and now are, and that 45 percent of new-car shoppers overall are considering a Toyota, up 13 percentage points from last week.
Honda rose 30 yen, or 0.9 percent, to 3,265 yen at 10:29 a.m. in Tokyo Stock Exchange trading.
Lease Program
Honda's "huge new lease program is proof that Toyota's recent flood of incentives might just be impacting Honda as well," said James Bell, Kelley Blue Book's executive market analyst. "This type of reaction could spark a new round of incentives among several more manufacturers."
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