Lots of mileage in forward thinking

Newsweek

Despite the megawatt buzz about the Toyota Prius, Honda actually tops the charts for fuel economy among auto-makers in America. Of the 10 best gas misers on the road today, Honda has seven of them, according to the EPA. Honda also offers more hybrid models—three—than anyone else (though Toyota will soon catch up). Honda has always made leading in fuel economy a bedrock principal, even when American car buyers could not care less. But with gas and oil prices remaining stubbornly high, drivers are caring more, and their interest in mileage extends beyond what's parked in their driveway. Improving fuel economy is seen by many as a necessary step in reducing America's dependence on foreign oil and advancing a "green'' agenda for the environment.

Now that Honda's mileage mantra is looking smart, NEWSWEEK's Keith Naughton sat down with [Honda USA's Chief Engineer, Charlie] Baker to discuss what drives the automaker to go for the green:

Naughton: Honda worried about gas mileage when gas mileage wasn't cool. Why?

Baker: Everyone at Honda views being in a company as being far more than just turning a profit. It's not that we're poor businessmen, but I think everybody at Honda is fired by the dream of creating great products that are the most efficient in their class.

Naughton: How difficult was it to keep that principle in the '90s when the SUV boom was in full swing and gas prices were at record lows?

Baker: Well, it certainly caused us pain. For a long time our president was strongly against getting into the truck market because he could not see how it was consistent with Honda values. But after a long time of wrestling with it, we said, "There are other people who are developing these trucks with horrendous fuel economy and we can do better."

Naughton: How did your rivals react when the MDX debuted in 2000?

Baker: We were criticized for being late to the party. People repeatedly told us we were going to fail.

Naughton: How difficult was it to engineer the MDX to meet Honda's stringent mileage standards?

Baker: I'll never forget it. I was a rookie leading this MDX team. We'd done the research and we had an efficient package. But when we pitched our business plan to the board of directors, Mr. [Koichi] Amemiya, who was in charge of North America, his No. 1 comment was: "It should be more green." I made the mistake of saying, "But sir, nobody cares about the green issues." And he just smiled and said "I know."

Naughton: But I'm sure your research showed that gas mileage was a very low priority to car buyers.

Baker: It certainly was, but I am absolutely ashamed of ever making that remark. Feel free not to include it in the interview.

Naughton: Does your research now show that people care about gas mileage?

Baker: If you are talking about large SUVs, yes, they are giving some lip service to fuel economy. But that is sort of a "here today, gone tomorrow"-type phenomenon. The point is not that customers demand it or don't demand it, because that's absolutely not the viewpoint of Honda. When you are a philosophy-driven company, you don't ask the customer if they agree with your philosophy.

Gracious me! Don't ask the customer? Blasphemy. Heresy!

Words. Words. Words. What the hell can I do with philosophy? Dunno, let's look it up...

Wiki

The term philosophy derives from a combination of the Greek words philos meaning love and sophia meaning wisdom.

Would this be a bad time to point readers to a post on the great Economist/Philosopher Smackdown - Why is “value” important and what is it? Yeah, maybe not.