jukngene

Article

MAGGIEMAE

Should add an endorsement then I could say I have driven a two wheel Honda, driven a four wheel Honda and flown a Honda But then I would also have to get a Honda. Lawn mower so I could say I pushed a Honda as well

dlq04

I thought Honda had been involved with Jets for a dozen years or more.

Matt_in_VA

I can't help but wonder what market they are going after? It is NOT clear if it can be flown with a single pilot (like the Cessna Citation), but it only has a top speed of 483 MPH and a range of 1358 miles. It had better be EXTREMELY cost effective and be flown single handed.

I can't help but wonder how it stacks up against the competition?

For me, if I had the money I would go with a Gulfstream G550.

MAGGIEMAE

If we are talking jets then a Cessna Mustang or a Pnenom 100 for me but airplanes in general a Supermarine Spitfire for me after I fly the Honda Jet

ralper

I wonder what made Honda get into the business jet business. It's hard for me to believe that they're actually going to make a profit from this venture.

It seems to me that they've been in this business for quite a number of years but haven't yet delivered one plane. How many do they have sold?

jukngene

100 orders booked at $4.5 million ea. Sounds like a good venture to me...worth the risk.

ralper

I don't know Gene. Even with 100 orders booked between the cost of R&D, the expenses incurred to date and the cost of building each plane I'm not convinced that they'll actually make money on this. And, thats assuming that they actually deliver all 100 orders. I've heard that they have some stiff competition in this arena and my understanding is that the delivery is significantly behind schedule.

I suppose that it could turn out to be a profitable venture, but I wonder.

Matt_in_VA

May I suggest this as their motive? IMHO, perhaps they are entering the personal / business jet business as a marketing tool? Much like Infiniti has done by sponsoring the Red Bull Formula 1 team? Infiniti has NO technical involvement in F1. As they do not have a team, (besides the Red Bull team that they sponsor that uses engines supplied by Renault), build a chassis or supply an engine. But, they latched on to Red Bull's four consecutive wins in the drivers and manufacturers championships over the last four seasons. They have Sebastian Vettel doing TV ads as their Director of Development, pitching their product and people latch on to stuff like that. I remember one of my Aunts that always drove T-Birds telling me that their T-Bird had disc brakes (just like race cars) decades ago.

Honda is scheduled to provide F1 engines again in 2015 and this may help them establish the image as a leading edge technology company that coupled with the Honda Jet will help John Q Public associate themselves with a "cool marque" when buying a car on Monday. Harking back to the old adage: Win on Sunday, sell on Monday. Their partnership with the McLaren Formula One team may help them raise their profile amongst the world wide F1 fans that make F1 the second most watched spectator sport on the planet, next only to soccer (football).

Considering that F1 events around the world attract some of the worlds "most beautiful people" including billionaires, rock stars, etc. Perhaps that is one of their alternative motives? IMAGE. Lets face it TV car ads are not about the product, but about a perceived image and/or life style and what could be more romantic than associating your young 20/30 Yuppie / Gen X or Y life style with a company that jets around the world to F1 races in the same brand of car that one drives?

Does this make sense to anyone other than me?

ralper

You're probably right about their participation in F1. I don't think you're right about the Honda Jet.

I suspect that when the idea of a Honda jet was conceived Honda was already where it wanted to be in autos, motorcycles and engines. Someone in upper management probably thought that there was a vacant spot in the business jet market and an engineering company like Honda could walk right in. They probably were able to convince the company that it was a good way to grow the company.

Lots of things have changed since Honda first conceived the Honda jet. I wonder if they still think it's a good idea.