Fads on wheels: Japanese cars.(recreational vehicles)

Economist (US), The, February, 1997

The popularity of recreational vehicles (RVs) is growing rapidly in Japan. The RV category is a broad one, and includes such vehicles as Honda's S-MX, which has dark windows and seats that fold down to make a double bed. Foreign cars continue to fare poorly in the Japanese market.

TOKYO AND NAGOYA

IT IS the typography of Honda's new S-MX that gives the game away. The M, turned on its side, resembles an E. But even without a name that looks remarkably like SEX, the car's dark windows show what Honda expects its customers to use it for. The seats fold down to make a double bed and, the marketing blurb helpfully points out, there is a handy place to store tissues. Unsurprisingly, Honda sold 15,000 of these motorised boudoirs in the first two weeks after their launch...

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