The automaker plans to sell between 70,000 and 80,000 units of the new HR-V compact crossover, which launches in spring, for the first 12 months “when it’s up and running,” said Jeff Conrad, general manager of the Honda division.
“It’s going to bring us some customers we haven’t seen in the past. Now we have an entry-level crossover,” Conrad said after Honda executives met with dealers Saturday at the NADA convention.
Honda’s U.S. truck deliveries rose slightly in 2014 in a light-truck market that expanded 10 percent.
Dealers anticipate that the HR-V will bolster Honda’s portfolio as “another key component in the all-wheel-drive platform,” said Jeff Hodge, president of Honda World Downey in Downey, Calif.