B TESTED
ack in 2009, Honda released its fourth generation Odyssey with upgrades that included a new and more powerful engine. The 2.4-litre, DOHC i-VTEC engine was matched to a five-speed automatic transmission, and the safety inclusions were upgraded to include six airbags and vehicle stability assist.
At the time, its electrically-powered steering was pretty much breaking new ground, and, with interior spaciousness improved, Odyssey maintained its appeal as a crossover vehicle positioned between that of a people mover and a large, but economical, family wagon within a compact overall package. The people-mover segment is an interesting market division where relatively small vehicles, in terms of overall dimensions, compete with large vehicles that owe their origins more to medium-sized, light commercials. For this reason we see the competition start with vehicles like the Kia Rondo and Volkswagen Caddy Life at the smaller end, moving on through the Citroen C4 and Picasso, the SsangYong Stavic and Toyota Tarago.
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Once you get into the large sector it brings in the heavyweights of the Volkswagen Transporter and the Caravelle, the Mercedes-Benz Vito and its new upper spec’d Valente model, through to the Kia Carnival and, fellow Korean, the Hyundai iMax. These are all priced under the ceiling of $55,000, but, of course, there are higher value people movers available, such as the Volkswagen Multivan, Chrysler Voyager and Mercedes-Benz Viano. So far this year (YTD Feb VFacts), the Odyssey is holding 22.4 percent of market share in this segment, selling 381 units, following the market leader the Kia Carnival, which achieved sales of 516 units (30.3 percent). The third place Hyundai iMax comes in with 329 units and 19.3 percent, and the Toyota Tarago comes in at fourth place with 12.9 percent and 220 registrations. For the full year of 2011 (VFACTS), the Carnival trounced all-comers with sales of 3,595 units and a market share of 36.2 percent. The iMax came in second with 1,922 sales and 19.3 percent, the Odyssey in third place at 1,178 units and 11.9 percent, closely followed by the Dodge Journey with 10.2 percent and 1,228 units. In the over $55,000 segment it was Volkswagen that made all the running with 783 sales and 66.8 percent of that segment.