All-time record Civic Hybrid Sales; Acura posts best-ever April, third best month in its history

Torrance, Calif. 05/03/2004 -- Record April sales of Acura vehicles, including double digit gains for the TSX and TL performance luxury sedans, along with strong demand for the Honda Civic and Civic Hybrid led American Honda to sales of 114,929 cars and light trucks in April, down slightly from a year ago when the company posted its best-ever April and the third best month in its history. American Honda sales for the 2004 calendar year are off a modest 1.3 percent from last year's record-setting pace at 426,730 units through the end of April.

Honda Division sales for the month totaled 98,491 units, down 4.1 percent from last year's best ever April, including a 5.6 percent jump in Civic sales. Civic Hybrid posted its second consecutive record month with sales of 3,041 units. Year-to-date Civic Hybrid sales rose 10.9 percent to 9,023 as consumer demand for hybrid models continues to grow. April results also included two Honda FCX fuel cell vehicles, the world's first commercial hydrogen-powered fuel cell car, sold under lease agreement to the city of San Francisco. The Honda brand also earned the highest quality rating among non-luxury brands in the recently released J.D. Power 2004 Initial Quality Survey and was fourth overall in the ratings behind luxury marques Lexus, Cadillac and Infiniti.

"When we look at sales in the context of our incentive spending, which remains the lowest in the industry, and factor in things like the latest J.D. Power IQS results, we can say that Honda is definitely on the right track," said Dick Colliver, executive vice president of American Honda Motor Co., Inc.

Acura Division posted a best ever April result of 16,438 cars and SUVs on continuing strong demand for its TSX and TL sedans, up 29 and 37 percent for the month, respectively. Sales for the all-new TL are up 41.8 percent for the calendar year, while the highly popular MDX continues to set a record pace with sales up 5.2 percent for the year. Acura year-to-date sales are up 21.6 percent over year ago totals.