Expert Insights: Q&A with Honda Australia general manager of ownership experience James Greenwood

New car buying is never boring, . And auto brands go to great lengths – and spend billions of dollars in myriad ways – attracting customers into showrooms to attract them towards something shiny and new.

But after the deal is done, owning a car can be a different story altogether.

There are also brands that invest just as much in aftersales support and customer care to ensure the ownership experience lives up to expectations.

So, here we sat with Honda Australia’s general manager of ownership experience James Greenwood to see what is going on behind the scenes – and after the contract is signed – at the Japanese automaker’S local division.

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What is your background and what does your role as the boss of ownership experience entail?

I have been with Honda Australia for almost 12 years and most of my service has been in the Ownership Experience division and various leadership roles.

My first job was at Holden for 10 years in marketing, export, pricing and vehicle distribution and finance before I joined the company. Later, I was placed in the world’s buying and supply chain finance space before I saw Honda.

I was a little bit of time to get used to an American-centric company and Japanese company culture, but it didn’t take too long for me to really see Honda’s way of doing things (from the culture and the philosophy to the global might of one of the world’S truly amazing companies).

What I think is the philosophy of the company, its commitment to our customers and its hard work ethic are all that we do.

My position has recently grown up to manage the Ownership Experience elements for all of Honda in Australia including our motorcycle, power equipment and marine businesses.

My experience so far has given me a great view of the customer from multiple touchpoints and now I can put it all in ownership experience.

When you don’t know exactly what ownership experience is, it’s basically everything else other than selling the product – that’ll be the best way to describe it. service and spare parts; all of the supply chain components, customer care (quality/compliant), quality, compliance & all our technical support for the networks as well as we have.

Honda in Australia sells cars, motorcycles, power equipment and marine engines – so that you’ll see us on land, sea or at your local Bunnings. But about two and a half years ago we began doing some unification work to bring those business units together; that means I take care of all the product lines from Honda in Australia now.

But having that mix of product and customer has meant it’s a really, really interesting couple of years to be exposed to different sides of the business after many years in automotive only.

So, what’s your favourite part about working for a brand like Honda?

Besides the day-to-day I love Honda absolutely. And it is one of the main reasons why I’m here after more than 10 years and still living in this world.

I’ve been a brand that has given me so much scope and personally, in my 10+ years of growth, I have had many more. I like how things are done,’ . The Honda philosophy we’ll talk about again, really sings to me and the Honda philosophy we have in mind.

Assuming I was raised on a farm, I could ride motorbikes before I would walk and then drive cars before doing anything else. Any engine-equipped vehicle had a Honda in it, our pumps, cherry pickers and motorbikes. Everything was Honda.

So it was nice to have that connection from the early years, and so I work for a company which really cares about its customers and makes such.

Many brands don’t have the breadth of Honda products and, with some really fun stuff on the way this year like Prelude and Super-One, it’s clear that we are entering a real purple patch with our next product.

What are some of the key metrics that you measure success by in terms of quality and customer expectations?

If a customer is going to research for hours, then they may be buying ‘bikes or any product from our power equipment and marine divisions but years and years of ownership. As such, touch points are important.

In the end, it’s about how we give a great ownership experience and keep our customers in mind. The 57-year-old Honda is in Australia to that end, where it has been for 58 years and across the country many customers still hand their Honda products down as part of the family rather than selling them.

But if we offer that quality in consistent experiences, then for the long term looking at our customers back to buy a car, motorcycle, power equipment or marine outboard engine, it will give us the best chance of being on the shopping list again.

What are the most important elements consumers expect from Honda after they’ve purchased a car? Obviously, if they’ve done their research, they know what they’re getting, but what are the expectations after that?

First of all, you think about the product and its quality, durability and reliability. I think that’s more than ever what we really need to be able to lean into in such a competitive market, and is something which has become so much of.

What does it mean when people get behind the wheel of a Honda? They are in love pretty quickly – they can touch and feel the quality – we have to keep that feeling alive through daily life, not fun.

As a brand, we work very closely with our Honda Centre and dealer networks as the face and touchpoint for our customers. Success we see is having a real partnership with them, and consistently delivered Honda’s brand values and showing our unique product in an approach which helps to make people understand it.

In Australia, we have a well-oiled supply chain machine that has been in place for almost 60 years and is concerned with making sure we are getting the right parts at the correct time when it comes to supporting our customers’ daily ownership.

And that’s another thing of our strength – the peace of mind for our customers when something doesn’t go their way we will have your back.

Have you seen quantitative changes in the customer experience since Honda’s move to an agency sales model?

That’s a really good question and the simple answer is yes, we absolutely have.

A large portion of the transition to a new business model was an approach to the ownership value proposition. It’s not just the price of the car – it’t really what we offer our customers for their whole value.

This is why Honda developed its market-leading Honda Low Price Service service offering. In return, we have provided a high ownership value for our customers with our five low-price services and has led to record customer retention.

I was involved in the business model transition, focusing on building up our existing customer base (which initially proved very difficult). Nevertheless, along the journey we have learned so much and now are in strength and ready to grow up.

What are some of the things that surprise or delight new owners about the ownership experience of a Honda?

Well for me personally, it’s really around the value that they have in buying and owning a new Honda.

The new concept of five low-price services with five years factory warranty and five year premium roadside assist included in all the new Honda was introduced to us when we wanted to highlight the great ownership value customers get when they buy them with us.

And if we didn’t want to stop there, we launched our Honda Extend program in 2024 that provides eight years of the Honda factory warranty and eight-years premium roadside assistance (five years factory with three year service-activated)

So that was another way for us to assure our customers that we’re standing behind our product.

Are there any differences in the aftersales experience or expectations for customers of your different model lines? Does a Civic Type R owner demand more from you or anything different than, say, a CR-V or HR-V owner?

I think it’s a good question to ask . I believe that in terms of what our cars are, we have real consistency when it comes to ownership. But it was that, by choice and by strategy to make everything easy, clear and transparent no matter what the car was.

The same service cost, the same warranty and similar ownership value propositions are all encompassing Honda car no matter which one is in. Exactly the same value proposition is given by .

Nevertheless, if you think about the expectations of a Type R owner (e.g., what they look like), it may be more likely to have been expected in terms of quality of experience that someone expects from them — especially for maintaining such ‘performance-oriented car’.

During nationally we continue to support our Honda Centre network in training, technician support and again have all the parts that are required at any given time.

The value proposition is consistent, but the role our network plays in delivering on what we promise and looking after our customers is absolutely essential… no one customer is the same.

And similarly for other Honda products like motorcycles, power equipment and marine, are there any differences or unique attributes that those customers require?

Yes, there is a . I’ve heard a lot about this in the last few years running the business from that point of view. While we all return to the core of being a global company – it is one business – we have different products in very different markets, so our customers are unique and their expectations are different as well.

It’s a phrase that we always look at ways to grow our business no matter what it is, and while still being true in the way products and the customers are treated, the same rules apply everywhere “has really great value proposition; treat the customer well (over and over again), earn their trust); and give them every reason to return and buy another Honda.”

On the topic of motorcycles, you obviously run the HART (Honda Australia Rider Training) centres in Victoria and NSW. What role do they play and how important are they?

I mean, really important, yeah. In Australia, HART is introduced in 1989 as a . In my opinion, I took my son and a group of his friends to do the first little learner course last year at our HART facility in Somerton. They loved it so much!

And I absolutely think HART is something that really adds value to the community. You’re not just teaching road safety and skills to ride a motorcycle in the right way, but you can also see what joy is everyone experiencing when they go through the process.

The world’s vision for Honda is to have zero deaths worldwide on our products by 2050, according to a global vision. Heart’s a very important role in that first relationship with Honda and building – “it is the best thing I can do to make them safe on the road” (Australia) HART.

Our HART facility in St Ives, New South Wales also offers vehicle driver training courses and… anything from learner to advanced.

Honda is renowned for its reliability and quality. How does that stack up in reality? What measures do you have that justify that reputation?

Do we really do ? The making of s is a decade-long tradition for quality, durability and reliability. I have a very close relationship with s so it is not just the reputation that we still hold but also improve this reputation as well as our continued existence.

We are also known for the quality of experience our customers have with us. I’ve really urged my customer care team toproactively work with customers, listen to them and do proactive solutions for many years.

How can you turn a really bad customer situation into an extremely positive one, just because we’re listening to them and dealing with the customers that are in this way of being so patient? It’s a great success and another way we trust our customers.

What is the most reliable product in the Honda range? Obviously, things like lawnmowers and generators have to run for hours at a time…

It’s hard to say which one, if any.’ The number of stories you hear about the extreme reliability of Honda (any product) has been amazing.

We’re a staple, and run all day without matter what it’s put on our four-stroke power equipment engines like these are. It’s great that they’re amazing .

How do you adopt ‘The Honda Philosophy’ into the ownership experience?

This is the original manifesto of Honda founders Soichiro Honda and TakeO Fujisawa, who wrote this book when they start working for the company.

And I keep it with me all the time.’ It is amazing, and a great deal of s are so awesome. I have used it so many times, either in a very difficult situation or when I’m trying to think differently about something.

The book will be read, I’ll read it… and almost every time I find a reference that gives me some advice to get me back on the right path.

This is the beauty of its simplicity, how we are absorbed in our culture and what’s it like to work. I have been to a number of Honda countries and Honda offices, and in each one of them it is the same phraser. The phrase “It’s a true global Honda Philosophy” that is the case.

For the most part, it centers around what people will likely think about is “the joy of buying, the joy to sell and the pleasure of making a living.” That is, you know what the order is… The joy of buying comes first. This is done so we are putting the customer at the centre of everything we do.

And I’ll give you another one here the 3S principle. Today, in Japanese there is three Ss (a C) – Simplicity, Concentration and Speed. So you can use this for everything really, from special projects or trying to find solutions for challenges, short-term, long-lasting strategies… it is endless.”

You’ve mentioned Honda’s low-price service policy is a market leader for mainstream manufacturers. How important is that, first as a selling tool to get people into Hondas, and then obviously afterwards to maintain that relationship?

That’s a very big part of what I think is the significance of . We know buying a car is an emotional journey, and we have real relationship with the car.

But while ownership costs aren’t something you should think at first, the reality is that customers may spend hours buying a car but they have years owning. That’s when we can trust our customers.

Our customers value the simplicity and transparency of our value proposition, which is reflected in our customer retention… we’re proud to be able to sell so much on such a good value model.

On the nuts-and-bolts side of things, literally how do you manage spare parts inventory to meet those customer expectations when it comes to vehicle maintenance and repair?

It’s the experience that has been cultivated over having a strong business for almost 60 years in Australia, I think we have our core advantage here. This has been based on the tried and tested processes, systems and the experienced people we have – our parts business – which is also an basis for maintaining customer care.

We opened a new National Parts Distribution Centre in Melbourne three years ago, where we are allowed to stock all our parts for every product so we can have lots of synergies and improve the way we run the business as well.’ It has been great! In the end, we sell and buy that result of that for our dealers and customers.

Lastly, Honda Australia has a couple of new models arriving this year including the Prelude and the Super-One as a dedicated electric vehicle. How does that change things in terms of sales, service training and specific customer care?

I think it’s a good question and we’ve had lots of debate about being the first EV. A technical point of view is that many of our cars already have high-voltage batteries in our hybrids so it’s just as big a battery changes.

We are already equipped to handle high-voltage batteries from that point, and know how to work on them.

We’ve had a lot of great discussions about the real experience we want for our EV customers, including the key ownership value proposition. We’re now completing that finalising for .

It’s a very exciting Honda Super-One that will be incredibly cool and is going to be an extremely cool car,’ . Afterwards, there’s the return of Prelude that appeales to the more passionate end of market.

What are you looking forward to with the Prelude from a customer expectation point of view?

And so is it that’s such a legendary nameplate of . If I’m talking to people about Prelude, they have heard so many stories. So many people have I met over the years who say things like “Oh, my brother used to have this Prelude”? We loved that car… four-wheel steering… it was awesome… a great thing.

When the icon of Prelude is returning, I am very fortunate that I can work here now.

While that’s a bit of rumour, it’ll be no surprise to forget about the rest of our model line and some other interesting product launches over the next 12 months as well as more. Super excited More models and more customers enjoying the joy of owning a Honda…

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