Extra Credit - Schofield Honda - Essay Example

With the carbon emission levels, this was a brilliant idea by Schofield Honda. The cars’ intended audience was the youth but surprisingly the first buyers turned out to be just “young” at heart.

Lee Lindquist, an alternative fuels specialist at Schofield Honda in Wichita, Kansas. His love for technology, Research, and Environment pushed him to make great differences in his work. He discovered that Honda Civic GX was the greenest model available for sale in the United States then. He couldn’t believe the car had been in the market for over ten years and the market response was not that impressive. The main challenge is the lack of natural gas fueling stations. The cost of purchasing and installing individual fueling stations for home use, the company however grounded a perfect chance to launch the green car to the public.

Following the rising fuel costs in Europe, the car initially purposed to curb carbon emissions found another mission. This time it was in Europe, fuel costs here were on a drastic rise therefore Lee saw it wise to sell the vehicles to Europe to combat the rising fuel costs and this was a success. Lee advised Schofield, the managing director at Schofield Honda to donate a Civic GX and a fueling station in the Tornado Hit Greensburg Greentown, the organization set up to educate the town’s residents about green building methods and products.

The media attention surrounding Greensburg pushed Schofield to open up for Lee’s idea. Greensburg residents together with the whole country were able to know of Honda’s efforts in Environmental conservation. Just as Schofield said, “Business involves investment in change” he did invest in change and has no regrets about it, though he admits to having doubts at first. Ever since the Donation, Schofield Honda’s customers have expressed more interest in hybrid cars and the Donation to Greensburg presented good Public relations to Schofield.

Anyone interested in buying the natural gas vehicle from Schofield today will be surprised at how much customers are scrambling for this genius innovation. The simple act of generosity by Schofield – though convinced by Lee- has made Schofield Honda’s smart car project a success. The United States government has applauded this effort and has Gone Ahead to have dealerships with the company. Schofield Honda now steers most of its credit buyers to the Credit Union of America for financing. 91% of the credit buys the company had in 2011 were all referred to the Credit Union of America.

Further evidence of their success, the credit union now has partnerships with 73 local dealers and has grown its membership from approximately 25,000 members to more than 49,000 members in 2012. The company became a trusted partner with the Union just to highlight a few of the benefits the company enjoys now. Read More