Whats the ROI of a great attitude? How do you measure the ROI of a culture in which #positive is a constant and not an afterthought? When focused on spreadsheets and reports, where does an enthusiastic and encouraging environment fit it to the analysis? My Internet 'Direct Sales' Team accepted my challenge to "30 Days of Positivity' at the beginning of April. We consistently worked with each other to stay positive and encouraging, even elimination the seemingly harmless sarcasms we had allowed to creep into our daily conversations. By mid month #positivity became less a required effort and more of a habit. The result? 6 salespeople, 70 New Cars and 21 Used Cars. BEST MONTH for the Internet Sales Department EVER! I am so very proud of my guys, they stepped up and rocked it! We will continue to encourage each other and push one another to achieve peak performance, keeping the POSITIVE momentum rolling and shatter another record in May! Look out cause the #powerofpositive is taking MY team to the top! :)

Lets face it, So Cal is CAR COUNTRY! Spend enough time on the freeways around these parts and you will see one of everything that’s ever been on wheels. My commute has me racking up 20k + a year on my poor lil Accord so I am on the road a lot, and I have seen some stuff let me tell you! Back in early 2009 I was driving next to a semi camouflaged small coupe that I really thought was going to be the next generation Honda Civic, with some research I found out it was a Kia! I remember thinking then that Kia should use the tag line, “It’s the Civic that Honda SHOULD have built!”  After all the fall out for NOT going far enough with the design of the latest version of the Civic perhaps Honda should have paid more attention to the hot little sedan from Korea!
I have always tried to keep my phone handy for those unusual cars that I see on my drive; some really cools cars (like these) and sometimes catch a glimpse of something unknown. A couple of days ago, while stuck in traffic on the 60 freeway my attention was drawn to a really nice looking Mercedes wagon in the lane next to me. What is odd about that is that I am SOOO not a fan of Mercedes but this wagon had some really nice lines to it and as I was checking it out I noticed that it had NO model badges at all. All there was for identification was the Mercedes star on the grill and lift gate. Then I looked down to the plates and sure enough they were manufacture plates, usually a sure sign of something cool! In front of the mystery wagon was a matching one in white, I was definitely intrigued and out came the iPhone for pics! When I was able to get next to them I could see multiple display screens and test equipment if front of the drivers so I do know they were test mules of some sort. These shot are not up to Brenda Priddy quality but it was difficult to get anything better in traffic. I’m not sure what model these wagons are or what they are being tested for, my friend Woody (of WoodysCarSite, the best damn car site on the web) brought up an interesting thought that maybe they were being used for hybrid drive-train testing as Mercedes has been doing a lot in that area. I would like to find out what I can, it would be a drag to finally LIKE a Mercedes but not know which one it is that I like!  Anyone have any ideas? Please feel free to leave me a comment; I look forward to hearing from you!

Statement by American Honda Motor Co., Inc.

Re: resolution of Peters v. American Honda small claims lawsuit, 5/9/2012

Honda is pleased with the Court’s decision which affirms that Honda was truthful in its advertising of the fuel economy potential of the 2006 Honda Civic Hybrid. We are thankful for the support we received from the many satisfied Civic Hybrid owners who expressed their support throughout the legal process.

We are never satisfied when a customer is anything less than satisfied with one of our products, and the company does not relish the necessity to defend the truth in opposition to any of our customers. However, it is important to note that, since January of this year, seventeen similar small claims cases involving Civic Hybrid owners have been heard in courts across the country and Honda has now prevailed in sixteen, based on facts and the law.

Honda welcomes any customer who has questions about fuel economy to contact the company directly through our dealer network or our Automobile Customer Service office.

Mikes $0.2.....Sometimes patience is indeed a virtue! Many times during the last six months or so during the small claims court proceedings I have wanted to rant about how absurd the entire case was however I bit my tongue, or finger so to speak! As a car guy who began his career as a Tune Up and Drivability Tech at a car dealership over 25 years ago I have a better understanding than most of the issues involved with this case, it was something I faced numerous times as a complaint from customers and have had experience in diagnosing whether the mileage of a vehicle wasn’t what it should have been. I will save the long winded pontification for a cloud filled room during a friendly poker game but I will offer one interesting fact about the woman who initiated the suit, claiming her Civic failed to achieve the mileage numbers she ‘anticipated’ it would. She has a website, of course, and on that site you can PURCHASE your own CD with step by step instructions on how to file a suit against Honda yourself! There is a great write up and pretty thorough explanation of the case and its merits over on the Automotive.com site. During this whole process Honda has remained incredibly professional, something I probably would not have been able to pull off in the face of such absurdity, bravo Honda! And congrats on your victory as well! :)