Which brings us right back around to "how did this thing win a Truck of the Year award?

Anyone else get the feeling that Threxx feels like we're kicking his poor old dog whenever people bad-mouth the Ridgelame?

 

It seems like what Honda was shooting for is a piece of the truck market, without spending the money to make an actual truck.

The Ridgeline is Honda's way of "doing the best of what we got".

Weak V6, no V8
No truck chassis, use minivan chassis
weak offroad capabilities
weak towing abilities

They try to disguise it with storage bins but it ain't cuttin' it. This isn't inovation, it is a half-*** truck/van and Honda gets an award for it. That's excellent!

 

If that is the case, then Honda have done well with Ridgeline... but wasn't there a trend there for sales of only 50K units per year just a month or two ago? 5K unit sales for the month would almost have Honda doubling Ridgeline sales based on previous months... Maybe Honda have dropped prices afterall?

 

I dunno... I haven't heard about any significant price drops but I'm pretty sure despite what people often hear... that almost any Honda in their lineup can be had for close to invoice price if not below invoice with enough bargaining. I've seen it happen with the Accord and Civic on more than one recent occasion.

50k units per year would be ~4167 units per month which isn't too far from 5.25k units a month... so if the previous number was based on the total average sales from inception that makes sense because the Ridgeline started off slow and gained momentum.

http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2...01/153705.html

 

TOTY is only available to new or revised truck models.

This was a very quiet year in the truck world.

I'm no Ridgeline defender, but that vehicle will easily do what 75% of truck buyers will need it for (i.e. the Home Depot run, going to the mall, getting groceries, basically being used as a car). Those who need a 'real' truck still have the Silverado/Sierra, the Ram, the F Series, the Titan, and even the Tundra. For those who want a pickup bed but basically only need a car with a bed, the Ridgeline is as good a choice (other than price) as a Dakota or Colorado or Tacoma. Maybe even better in some respects.

If the new GMT900s or the new Tundra were out this year, the Ridgeline would not have won. As it is, though, there isn't much new this year. Hell, the Mitsubishi Raider is a reskinned Dakota. Next year will be the interesting year, with the new 900s AND (I believe) the new Tundra. I'm guessing that the GMT900s are a shoe-in for SUV of the Year, but I'm not going to say that about the 900 pickups yet. If the new Tundra IS a competitor, then odds are it goes to Toyota (this is MT we are talking about, after all).

But again for this year, I don't know who else should have gotten it over the Ridgeline, even though I'm certainly not a big fan. Like it or not, it is innovative in terms of concept (i.e. building a more or less "sissy" truck that will do everything that most pickup owners need). The Dodge Mega Cab? Just because it has a huge cab and a smaller bed?

 

I think Joe makes a good point. It won simply because there was no competition for it. Personally, I like the Raider alot better than the Ridgeline. At least the Raider looks tough and rides on a sturdy, dependable truck platform. But innovation and different wins MT's awards.

 

Ridgeline-





Silverado(just for comparison)-