Photo: Honda
At a time when carmakers across the world are polishing their cars and cleaning up their act for next week’s New York International Auto Show (NYIAS), Honda decided to make a mess of the event.
At the Japanese carmaker’s booth at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center visitors will get a chance to see a totaled 2019 HR-V, possibly complete with the crash dummy and blown up airbags. The display was at one point an actual, working car that got crashed by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) for testing purposes.
The strange apparition is a means to an end. Honda plans to use it as a reminder for the American buyer that there are now seven cars wearing the carmaker’s logo that have earned the IIHS’ coveted Top Safety Pick.
This “emotional display” is supposed to be a testimony to “what a vehicle endures in a crash (and what it looks like after),” all in the name of safeguarding its occupants.
"By having a crashed HR-V on display at the New York Auto Show, media and consumers will be able to see first-hand how the HR-V performed in the IIHS test, with dramatic, real-world visuals to showcase our safety rating leadership and our commitment to Safety for Everyone," says Honda’s VP of sales Henio Arcangeli, Jr.
Looked at from another angle, this gimmicks seems a bit counter-intuitive.
Sure, people like to be safe in their cars, and sometimes they even bother to check the safety rating on the car’s brochure. But would they still buy the car after seeing what happens to it as a result of a medium-severity crash?
What would they choose? The wrecked Honda, or the glossy Kia next door?
Stretching things a bit, it’s like McDonald’s trying to convince you of how healthy its food is by showing you a chewed up burger, turned into a gooey paste by someone else’s teeth and saliva.
Or worse still, if you can imagine things that far.
The strange apparition is a means to an end. Honda plans to use it as a reminder for the American buyer that there are now seven cars wearing the carmaker’s logo that have earned the IIHS’ coveted Top Safety Pick.
This “emotional display” is supposed to be a testimony to “what a vehicle endures in a crash (and what it looks like after),” all in the name of safeguarding its occupants.
"By having a crashed HR-V on display at the New York Auto Show, media and consumers will be able to see first-hand how the HR-V performed in the IIHS test, with dramatic, real-world visuals to showcase our safety rating leadership and our commitment to Safety for Everyone," says Honda’s VP of sales Henio Arcangeli, Jr.
Looked at from another angle, this gimmicks seems a bit counter-intuitive.
Sure, people like to be safe in their cars, and sometimes they even bother to check the safety rating on the car’s brochure. But would they still buy the car after seeing what happens to it as a result of a medium-severity crash?
What would they choose? The wrecked Honda, or the glossy Kia next door?
Stretching things a bit, it’s like McDonald’s trying to convince you of how healthy its food is by showing you a chewed up burger, turned into a gooey paste by someone else’s teeth and saliva.
Or worse still, if you can imagine things that far.
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