Honda Civic Loses Consumer Reports’ Recommendation

Honda Motor’s refreshed Civic, a model that’s been a foundation of the auto maker’s U.S. sales for decades, failed to garner a coveted “Recommended” status from Consumer Reports.

The 2012 Honda Civic lineup

The 2012 Civic scored 61 in Consumer Report’s evaluation, down from 78 for the previous Civic, according to a review in the September issue published this week.

To my eyes, this is the danger of being conservative when competitors like Hyundai, Kia and Ford are swinging for the fences with their new models. The Civic typically gets a radical revamp in every other cycle, and this was not one of them. That has been a successful strategy for Honda over the last couple of decades. But with the U.S. market getting friendly to smaller, more fuel efficient vehicles, this wasn't the moment to play it safe, especially when the previous model was seeing a decline in interest as the Hyundai Elantra and Ford Focus received dramatic redesigns.

The loss of the recommended rating might not dent sales over the long-term, but the initial acceptance of the refreshed Civic has been tepid: Sales of the car this year through June dropped 14 percent to 127,102 from a year ago.

And Honda's earnings have been hammered by the effects of the earthquake.