March11
Honda will move production of the Ridgeline pickup to its Lincoln, AL plant early in 2009, the Japanese automaker announced Monday. The move is aimed to free up capacity for the Civic passenger car at Honda’s Alliston, ON plant, where the Ridgeline is currently built.
The Lincoln plant currently assembles the Odyssey minivan as well as the Pilot crossover. Production trials of the Ridgeline will start late this year at the Lincoln plant, with Line 1 devoted to the model entirely, while Line 2 will carry both the Odyssey and Pilot.
The Ridgeline — which was introduced in March of 2005 as a 2006 model — is currently built alongside the Acura MDX, Honda Civic and Honda Civic Si at Honda’s Alliston plant.
Last year, Honda sold 42,795 Ridgelines, which represents a 14.7 percent decrease from 2006.
They should just shift production into the toilet where these pseudo trucks belong.
What has 480 legs and 23 teeth?
The Ridgeline assembly line!
Ugly and weeny only begins to describe it…
Amazing at the people who post here. I can see why Honda is moving truck production to Alabama … lower cost (US$1 = C$0.99) greater portion of trucks being bought in the US and probably excess capacity in that plant. If you’re already making the Odyssey and Pilot there, why not the Ridgeline?
And do people already forget the Ridgeline won Truck of the Year at the Detroit Autoshow? Last time I checked, it was American journalists who voted in that poll …
Shift it to India. Maybe those people will think it is a truck.
inspire, journalist votes do not always align with public perception. When was the last time you heard Ford, Chevy, Dodge and Toyota mentioning the Ridgeline as their rival? The Ridgeline is weak and just not up to the job.
^ Remind me … what makes you more an ‘expert’ about cars/trucks than the very journalists who feed us information about these vehicles? You may have a point about the Ridgeline not having some of the capabilities of the ‘full sized’ contemporaries, but it seems to have a niche that is selling. Who knows … maybe in a few years the Big3 will have an answer to this to address CAFE concerns.
Inspire- A niche that is selling? Please, repeat that, with facts. In the segment it competes in, it’s doing abysmal, let alone in the segment it’s supposed to compete in. It’s suspension was not made with large loads in mind. What makes me more of an expert is, I own a truck, and I know what I need for my work. Simply something reliable and economical. The Ridgeline is so far neither of those. And the capabilities of full sized contemporaries? I think a better comparison is “doesn’t have any of the capabilities of a small sized pick up”.
Ridgeline was developed by former GM guy who was fed up with politics at GM and moved to Honda. He was the head of GM truck design studio. Now we see a lot of elements of Ridgeline in GM sketches and even new Toyota prototype has a lot of from Ridgeline. I am not a truck guy and Ridgeline is not my cup of tea, but there was (before $4/gallon gas) a market for a truck that does not have to go 3 feet into a dirt and does not have to tow 8500 lbs. And my guess is that if you spend 50K for a vehicle you not going to dunk it in the mud every day and test how much it can tow. Ridgeline is in that niche. Contractors don’t buy near luxury trucks, company owners and urban cowboys do. There is enough demand for it to allocate complete production line.
Truck of the Year…..Car of the Year.
There are lots of loser cars that won awards from car shows and magazines.
Nobody believes those awards anymore…unless you also belive in the Grammy’s….
@GetReal,
To quote the Simpsons
*Homer steals a giant Emmy statue and Marge scolds him*
Homer:”But I never win any awards”
Marge: “You won a grammy”
Homer: “I mean a REAL award”
@autonut,
I can definitely see the GM design in that truck. It looks like a baby Avalanche. Ridgeline’s niche is the “I’m too pompous and ’sophisticated’ to buy that redneck American truck and support my economy and that there Tundra is ugly” niche. The other problem with Ridgeline is that its not more efficient than the full-size pickups. A Silverado or Avalanche powered by the 5.3L is more efficient. They can also haul more, tow more, offroad more, and in the case of Avalanche have a far more luxurious interior. I am a truck guy and I do use mine to yank a fishing boat or ATVs around. Gross weight of boat on trailer is 4600lbs. I’ve towed it with my 5.3L Suburban and my friend has used his V6 Tacoma to pull it. My truck is just more stable and smooth with the boat hooked up to it. The Tacoma has the grunt to pull it, but it doesn’t feel solid, the weight of the boat is far more noticeable. Full-size trucks are just better at it.
The Ridgeline was built to complement fans of Honda’s offroad equipment. It was never meant as a heavy-duty work truck and Honda does not market it as such.
It’s built with off the shelf components which limits its capabilities; at the very least it needs more torque and a heavier duty transmission. I’m sure if Honda want to build a challenger to the F-150, they could do so but it would require a complete redesign.
I think the Ridgeline is one of those notorious Honda ‘one-offs’ (like the NSX, S2000, and Insight) which filled a niche, is sold for +8 years without a redesign, and is discontinued without a replacement.
inspire, read my post again! I never said I was an “expert” (Your word, not mine!) I only pointed out that those “expert” opinion does not always align with customers’ expectations. In the Ridgeline’s case, it does not. The Big3 is worried about who? Toyota, not Honda in terms of truck for good reasons. If I have to put my money on either the Big3 trying to market their bread and butter truck vs. you journalist “expert,” I’ll go with the Big3.
WELL THEY CANT BE GOOD AT EVERYTHING
one-off is right, global. To Honda, I say… either completely redesign when switching production, or completely kill off. The latter might be smarter.
I have to park next to one of these abortions everyday. Is there room for one more in Alabama?
R-Head: “They should just shift production into the toilet where these pseudo trucks belong.”
Beautiful!
Comment by inspire: Be very wary of using auto awards as a benchmark for anything. the K-car,Civic and Camry all won Motor Trend’s award.
autonut: “Ridgeline was developed by former GM guy who was…” Fired for stupidity and moved to Honda.
It’s built with off the shelf components which limits its capabilities; at the very least it needs more torque and a heavier duty transmission. I’m sure if Honda want to build a challenger to the F-150, they could do so but it would require a complete redesign.
bigp: “WELL THEY CANT BE GOOD AT EVERYTHING.” They’re good at everything with two wheels, and everything with four wheels smaller than a Fit. after that,they suck. (Though to be truthful, the new accord is acceptable).