Why did Honda stop building 3 door Civics?

London_Town

The title says it all really, I just wonder if anyone knows, or if Honda ever explained this to the motoring press?

I only raise it because I've always had 3 door models and prefer them. They're also often a cheaper, more affordable way into a car range.

Land Rover did this with the Freelander 2 and I believe the new Clio is also only going to be a 5 door varient. It surely can't be sales driven because I see plenty of 3 door cars on the road, so I'm not the only one who buys them.

UsernameAlreadyExists

No idea. Perhaps the doors are too big for modern tightly packed carparks.

I've had a number of 3 doored cars in the past, and the missus has a 3 door clio at the mo. I'd not have another now though as I seem to do most of the driving when everyone is in the car at the same time and forever folding the seats forward, and getting in & out in the rain is a PITA.

3 doors are for young couples with no kids (or just for 2 people) who care about the look/styling of their cars

Lum

That's not the only reason to have a 3 door. 3 doors are also really good for wheelchair users who travel on their own.

CKhalvashi

Lum wrote: »

That's not the only reason to have a 3 door. 3 doors are also really good for wheelchair users who travel on their own.

This is a very valuable point, however we had to make do with a 2 door convertible with 2 young children at one point, and an estate car, like the one I have now, would have been so much more practical.

I also feel that there's still a large-ish selection of 3 door models still out there, although a wheelchair user friend of mine has had problems trying to get a 3 door car the same size of a Focus.

CK

UsernameAlreadyExists

um, yes ... wheelchairs users ... my bad. oops.

Actually there was a 3 door focus that used to park right outside my office window (nearby, close disabled parking spots) and was there for a while. Then one day I noticed that it was clearly involved in an accident as it had a huge dent and scrapes down one side. A few weeks later it was replaced with a newer, five door focus. I guess they had the same problems.

I, myself had a 3 door Focus once, I didn't even realise that they might not make them anymore. (*goes to google)

Lum

We actually have both. My GF uses a 19yr old 200SX when she travels on her own. It's low to the ground and has nice wide doors which makes loading and unloading her chair much easier.

When we travel together, I'm the one loading and unloading the chair, and we use a 5 door Mondeo. I can just take one wheel off and shove the entire chair sideways on the back seat, assuming someone hasn't squeezed an X6 into the loading area while we were parked, of course.

I guess if you have children and travel as a family then the 5 door would be better. In our case we both work full time so she needs a 3 door.

The B-Max might be a suitable alternative to the Focus. The sliding rear door should give you something a bit like a 3 door afterwards.

slyracoon

Probably a cost cutting measure.

The 3 and 5 door variants are often made at different plants or require sperate production lines. Why have 2 production lines when they can consolidate down to 1 and focus on 1 version of the car.

And although 3 doors have their uses as mentioned by others 5 doors are more popular these days.

GolfBravo

London_Town wrote: »

The title says it all really, I just wonder if anyone knows, or if Honda ever explained this to the motoring press?

Car manufacturers rarely comment on non-existing car features.

There could be a possibility of a 3-door version being introduced later this year when the new Type-R sports version is released, but I doubt it. Every official Honda photo and even Nurburgring spy shots show only 5-door cars.

Anyway, bit of "insider info" - for the past decade pretty much every manufacturer offering both 3 and 5 door versions have lost a lot of money selling their 3-door version cars. This is simply due to low sales volumes and high manufacturing costs.

Both 3 and 5 door cars can be easily build on the same production line, but both require different side panels, doors, door skins etc. The tooling to make side panels cost millions of £/€/$ - this is one of the most expensive car parts to make. To offer a 3-door version manufacturers have to spend extra £20-30 million+ on development and tooling alone - in today's economic climate not many manufacturers have that sort of cash laying around.

In the old days manufacturers used to offer 3 and 5 door versions - the cost of making a 3-door version was, say, £10000 and the cost of a 5-door version was £10100 - so the incremental cost was only £100, but the benefit to the customer was £800. The manufacturer could then charge £10800 for the 5-door, making £700 extra profit on the 5-door. Both the manufacturer and the consumer were happy.

But then a pricing war/new sales trend started, and all car manufacturers started offering 5-door versions for only, say, £200 more (not much above cost anyway). People stopped buying 3-door versions (poor value), 3-door sales volume dropped and subsequently the cost of manufacturing (design, testing, validation, manufacturing, etc) went through the roof.

Some manufacturers were smart and introduced their 3-door cars as coupes - not just a standard 3-door. Now, manufacturers can start charging extra £££ for the perceived benefit of a coupe.

London_Town

Thanks GolfBravo, that "insider info" is really informative and I can understand the reasoning behind it all now.

Also, you make a good point that some manufacturers have branded their 3 door hatchbacks as coupes, which allow them to charge far more. It's not my cup of tea, but the current 3 door Astra looks far more like a coupe than the boxy previous one.

Also, isn't the 3 door Seat Ibiza referred to as a "sports coupe" rather than a 3 door. Rather like estate cars being rebranded as "sports tourers" I suppose.

GolfBravo

London_Town wrote: »

Also, isn't the 3 door Seat Ibiza referred to as a "sports coupe" rather than a 3 door. Rather like estate cars being rebranded as "sports tourers" I suppose.

I think that "sports" bit is worth at least £499.

Horizon81

People who fall for jargon when it's simply a hatchback not a sports coupe deserve to pay a premium for being thick!