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It appears that Honda is discontinuing certain models that are not successful in particular markets, with the CR-V and Accord taking the hit.

Fierce competition from Japanese and Korean imports is the biggest reason American automobile manufacturing companies quit the sedan and hatchback markets, according to a study published by Management Study Guide.

The report went on to show that while boosting growth and profitability usually means exploring new markets and launching newer products, American automakers chose the exact opposite. This was subsequently exemplified by Ford’s announcement in 2018 that it would stop production of every hatchback and sedan barring two models, just as GM already quit big markets like India and Europe. As Ford CEO Jim Hackett explained, the Blue Oval is quitting the ever-less-relevant sedan and passenger car segment in America, such as the Taurus, Fiesta, and Fusion, to focus its resources on the promising SUVs and CUV markets.

Demand for passenger cars plunged in the US market, fueled by competition from Japanese imports like Toyota and Honda. But how are these Japanese companies faring in their home country? With Honda – not so good. The Japanese automaker is taking the same trim-to-win approach by discontinuing sales of the CR-V, Accord, and Insight in Japan. Let's find out why?

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Unlike the Honda Vezel, sales of the CR-V dwindled significantly in Japan, despite enjoying high sales margins in the global market, including Malaysia, where the CR-V is the third best-selling model in the country in 2021. Whereas, the Vezel introduced the same year in Japan, performed excellently in the Japanese market, selling an average of 4,390 units per month, amounting to twelve times more than the CR-V’s monthly sales there. In contrast, Honda shifts around 370 units of the CR-V each month in Japan.

But it’s more about market dynamics than about the car. The Honda CR-V is a long-running compact C-SUV produced since 1995 that shares the Honda Civic’s platform. The nameplate arrived in the North American market in 1997, with the automaker establishing local manufacturing sites in the USA, Mexico, and Canada. The company also has a CR-V manufacturing plant in Wuhan, China, in partnership with Donfeng Motor Corporation.

The CR-V is short for “Comfortable Runabout Vehicle,” but the automaker republished a British review of the car with the term “Compact Recreational Vehicle.” Despite its comparatively poor outings in Japan, the CR-V was the best-selling Honda vehicle in 2020 as well as the best-selling SUV globally. It currently slots between the smaller ZR-V (marketed as HR-V in North America) and the larger North American market Honda Passport/Pilot or the Chinese market Avancier/UR-V.

Pulling the Accord nameplate from the Japanese market is part of Honda's strategy to cut production costs, as most of its models get produced outside Japan, anyway. Besides Accord and CR-V, the Japanese automaker is axing a slew of models from its line-up in Japan, including the Thai-built Accord. Reports have it that ten Honda models will go the way of the Civic by facing the guillotine over an 18-month period, including the Honda Odyssey.

The Honda Accord entered its 10th generation in 2019, manufactured in Thailand, China, Malaysia, and the USA. The Japanese market gets the right-hand-drive Thailand-built models, along with Australia, Indonesia, and other south-eastern Asian markets such as the Philippines.

The Accord isn’t sold in other right-hand-drive markets like the UK and New Zealand. Honda has produced the Accord, also known as ‘Hepburn’ and ‘Inspire’ in Japan and China, since 1976. It has remained a chart-topping car in the US market since 1989, assuming a variety of body styles in the global market, including coupes, station wagons, hatchbacks, and the Crosstour C-SUV.

Related: Here’s Everything You Need To Know Before Buying A Used Honda Accord

It might surprise you to learn that the markets everywhere except Japan believes Toyota to be Honda's closest competitor. In fact, it is brands like Suzuki and Daihatsu that are Honda's closest competitors in Japan, as proven by the over fifty percent of Honda sales that come from its Kei car class models, which just happen to be Suzuki and Daihatsu's focus market.

Honda maintains the top perch in this segment, with the Honda N-Box shining as the best-selling car in the country for seven consecutive years starting from 2015, contributing to more than thirty percent of the automaker’s overall sales. In 2021, Honda’s Kei class cars, including the N-One, N-WGN, N-Van, and N-Box, sold a combined 305,397 units, constituting 53 percent of Honda Japan’s total sales of 579,740 units.

The implication of this market dynamic is that non-Kei car class nameplates like the CR-V and Accord aren’t as popular in Japan, despite holding their heads really high in overseas markets. So, with the CR-V and Accord increasingly becoming more American and less Japanese, the models inevitably got ever-more-tailored to meet the needs of the marque’s most important customer base. A case in point is the current generation CR-V's larger size, growing 71 mm longer, 21 mm wider, and 18 mm taller than the 5th-gen CR-V.

The flip side of this development is that Japanese shoppers grow less enchanted by the models in favor of the more practical and compact N-Box, or even the Vezel (HR-V). Toyota faces the same market dynamic with the RAV-4 and the Camry, both of which aren’t the picture of love among Japanese buyers. So, Honda’s recent announcement that it will discontinue sales of the Insight, CR-V, and Accord in Japan comes as no surprise.

The cars remain on the company's Japan website, but dealers are already notified of the discontinuation of these models. You might wonder how this explanation applies to Insight. Discontinuing the Insight makes sense, seeing as the hybrid Civic e:HEV reduces the Insight’s offering to redundancy. Axing the CR-V comes on the heels of the automaker’s announcement of a phased closure of the legendary Sayama plant over the next two to three years.

Although the Thailand plant builds the Honda Accord sold in Japan, the same combination of low demand and ever-increasing prices of everything – including parking charges, means it, too, has to go.

Summarily, Honda won't leave its home country with nothing but Kei cars as it prepares to launch a smaller version of the larger USA-focused Honda HR-V (the Honda Vezel) there. Time will tell if the Vezel will hit that “in-betweener” sweet spot. The Accord, on the other hand, has no Honda product to fill its spot in Japan, as demand for such cars is simply non-existent in the country these days.

Philip Uwaoma, this bearded black male from Nigeria, is fast approaching two million words in articles published on various websites, including toylist.com, rehabaid.com, and autoquarterly.com. After not getting credit for his work on Auto Quarterly, Philip is now convinced that ghostwriting sucks. He has no dog, no wife- yet- and he loves Rolls Royce a little too much.