honda is a small car manufacturer so it needs constant sales growth to keep up with the larger companies...(in order to not become a subsidiary like mazda, mitsubishi, daewoo or nissan)...the new civic is selling better than the older generation did...it was made for a broader audience and not for the racers...car companies do not get sales from racers...it's a plain fact...the mitsu eclipse was a gem but didn't sell well...the newer one sells much better than the older b/c it has a broader appeal

honda will always sell a single minded racer...such as the s2000 and nsx...in the future a rsx type r (maybe even a civic type r)

the reason why honda is trying to get bigger with broader appealling cars is GM admitted a couple years ago it has been aggressively trying to find a way to buy honda motor company