(FORTUNE Magazine) – REMEMBER those Honda TV commercials with the klutzy salesmen? The point was that their ineptness didn't matter, because the cars were so good they sold themselves. Stop action! Those autos aren't flying out of showrooms anymore. The Accord, which was the most popular car in America as recently as December, has fallen to No. 6 in unit sales -- down 35% from a year before. Projected 1993 volume: 350,000 to 360,000. As Honda's experience demonstrates, fast-changing markets demand fast action. But the company has prided itself on running the leanest organization in autodom -- so lean, maybe, that it couldn't respond quickly enough. ''I think we are a little too lean,'' says Thomas Elliott, executive vice president of operations and Honda's top American official. ''When the cars sold themselves, we didn't need to give dealers a lot of support on sales, service, and parts.'' Honda has trimmed some costs, rearranged its top U.S. executives, expanded sales training, and introduced dealer incentives of up to $1,000 per car. Elliott insists the worst is over: ''We think we'll do better for the balance of the year.'' Big question: Is Honda doing enough? In U.S. sales, Honda has fallen behind Toyota and Nissan. Says Thad Malesh, sales analyst for J.D. Power & Associates: ''We keep expecting a snapback in sales each month, and we're not getting it.'' That's ominous, because with 40% of Honda's worldwide unit sales in the U.S., the company depends more heavily on the American market than do its Japanese competitors. Honda has been shut out of two fast-growing and highly profitable segments because it has never developed a minivan or a sport-utility vehicle. Besides the Accord, it sells only two other car lines in the U.S., vs. eight for Toyota and six for Nissan. Acura, Honda's near-luxury brand, is slumping as well, down 17%. ''Lexus ((from Toyota)) and ((Nissan's)) Infiniti have set very high standards in sales and after-market service,'' says Elliott, adding sportily: ''They upped the ante, but we intend to play in that ballpark.'' Lexus sales have fallen 5% this year, while Infiniti's have accelerated 24%. A new Acura Integra will appear in showrooms this July; the 1994 Accord arrives in September. For Honda to come back, these cars will have to make a big splash. Though Honda builds more cars in the U.S. than any other Japanese automaker, the strong yen has hurt more than you might expect. The company has raised prices three times on 1993 models. As recently as 1990 the Accord LX carried a sticker price of $15,905. That was $910 less than a comparable Chevrolet Lumina Eurosport. Now a similar LX goes for $18,780 -- $1,413 more than the Lumina. American Honda is getting a boost from exports. Last year it sold 55,000 made-in-U.S.A. cars, many with right-hand drive, in 18 countries including Japan. The U.S. is the sole source of three low-volume Honda models, including the Accord station wagon. That's 12% of its American production. Weak sales have forced Honda to cut output on assembly lines in Ohio. Rather than lay off workers -- called ''associates'' in Honda-speak -- it has deployed up to 2,000 of them in frequent training sessions. A scandal could further stretch Honda's lean management. Over the past five years, the company has fired several high-ranking sales executives amid charges that they accepted payoffs of as much as $100,000 from dealers who wanted Acura and Honda franchises and other special treatment. At least two executives deny the charges. In his New Year's speech, President Nobuhiko Kawamoto challenged Honda employees to ''free ourselves from past mindsets, think flexibly and thoroughly, and then take action.'' U.S. customers will see some of that action in 1994. In January, American Honda will start selling its own version of the four-wheel-drive Isuzu Rodeo -- the first vehicle it will have marketed in the U.S. that it didn't build. And by the end of next year it will introduce its first minivan, based on the Accord. Though these new models won't account for huge volume, they should boost dealers' spirits. In an April ranking of the value of car dealerships by the National Automobile Dealers Association, Honda fell from No. 4 to No. 12. Acura's skid was even worse, from No. 7 to No. 27. (No. 1 now: Saturn.) A lot of Honda dealers hope that the new thinking Kawamoto called for will be more than flexible and thorough -- it had better be fast.

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