Photo: Honda
It's become a custom for car manufacturers to mark the first day of April with a more or less elaborate joke. Some are easy to see through while others might actually have you pause for thought for a few seconds, but the most important thing is to squeeze a few laughs out of the audience.
Just like that one friend who insists on being the first to wish you "happy birthday" so they wake you up at 12:01 am with that notification sound, Honda was in a hurry this year to share its prank with the world. And why shouldn't it, considering it's a good one?
Not wishing to miss on an emerging niche which could show some potential, the Japanese carmaker is launching a new model: the CR-V Roadster. The brand's successful SUV is now getting a roofless version, just in time for the approaching summer. However, there's a caveat: the vehicle is absolutely undrivable.
Well, you could technically convince it to move forward, but you would be sitting in a deathtrap. That's because the conversion was created by "the PR team and an angle grinder," which is hardly reassuring as far as the vehicle's structural rigidity is concerned. The team estimates it's been reduced by approximately 100 percent, which we feel is an accurate estimation.
However, Eipurirufkru - Future Opportunity Occupational Lead for Honda - believes it shouldn't be a problem: “This is a bold new direction for the CR-V and opens up an entirely new non-existent market," they said. "Our sales target is somewhat conservative to start with, at zero cars, but we are confident that once the minor glitches are ironed out, such as the lack of roof and the fact it is totally structurally unsound, the car will fly out of showrooms.”
While most of the industry charges more for convertibles than the equivalent coupes or sedans, Honda decided to do the right thing and price the CR-V Roadster at half the cost of a regular SUV - which is completely in line with the amount of car the clients would get.
What makes this caper stand out is that their author, Honda UK, actually went the trouble of sawing off the top of a CR-V SUV - a needless enterprise that doesn't make the joke any more believable, but it does confer it a bit more weight. Which, if you think about it, is quite ironic.
Not wishing to miss on an emerging niche which could show some potential, the Japanese carmaker is launching a new model: the CR-V Roadster. The brand's successful SUV is now getting a roofless version, just in time for the approaching summer. However, there's a caveat: the vehicle is absolutely undrivable.
Well, you could technically convince it to move forward, but you would be sitting in a deathtrap. That's because the conversion was created by "the PR team and an angle grinder," which is hardly reassuring as far as the vehicle's structural rigidity is concerned. The team estimates it's been reduced by approximately 100 percent, which we feel is an accurate estimation.
However, Eipurirufkru - Future Opportunity Occupational Lead for Honda - believes it shouldn't be a problem: “This is a bold new direction for the CR-V and opens up an entirely new non-existent market," they said. "Our sales target is somewhat conservative to start with, at zero cars, but we are confident that once the minor glitches are ironed out, such as the lack of roof and the fact it is totally structurally unsound, the car will fly out of showrooms.”
While most of the industry charges more for convertibles than the equivalent coupes or sedans, Honda decided to do the right thing and price the CR-V Roadster at half the cost of a regular SUV - which is completely in line with the amount of car the clients would get.
What makes this caper stand out is that their author, Honda UK, actually went the trouble of sawing off the top of a CR-V SUV - a needless enterprise that doesn't make the joke any more believable, but it does confer it a bit more weight. Which, if you think about it, is quite ironic.
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