Honda adds Special Edition to Ridgeline pickup

James R. Healey | USA TODAY

Honda continues to tend its Ridgeline pickup, this time by adding a Special Edition version.

On sale today for $38,335, it is mainly a cosmetic package -- black trim on the wheels, and around the headlights and tailights, plus Special Edition badges. The one significant hardware item is a deluxe navigation/infotainment setup.

It has leather upholstery and comes in three dedicated colors, which have fancy names but are basically black, white, silver.

The Ridgeline went on sale March 2005 as a 2006 model. It differs from other pickups in significant ways.

•Unibody construction. Honda uses the same basic underpinnings that are used for the Pilot and Acura MDX SUVs and the Odyssey minivan. Honda calls that architecture its global light truck platform.

Other makers' trucks have the venerable ladder-frame underpinnings, and the body's mounted atop the frame, unlike the unibody setup of Ridgeline.

•Size. Ridgeline's a mid-size in a market that favors full-size. Toyota's Tacoma and Nissan's Frontier have sized-up over time and also can be considered mid-size. General Motors plans to show it's planned mid-size Chevrolet Colorado at the Los Angeles auto show next week.

Ford discotinued the compact Ranger before it got its growth hormones and has no immediate plan to revive it. Chrysler's Dodge Dakota was a mid-size pickup, but it's no longer made and Chrysler is mulling whether to field another in that segment.

•Price. The Ridgeline Speical editions sticker price would only get a modestly equipped full-sizer from the Detroit Three, whose big pickups start around $30,000, more-or-less.

•Manners. Ridgeline, because it's constructed like a car, has a smoother ride and better handling that a conventinal pickup.

That's made it attractive to some Honda loyalists, but not many.

The first 10 months this year, Honda's sold just 14,807 Ridgelines, according to Autodata. That's up 31.9% in an overall new-vehicle market up 8.4%, so relatively speaking, Ridgeline's having a good year.

But despite the big jump in sales, it's barely selling better than the Nissan Titan (13,227, down 26.5%). Nissan has a replacement Titan under development but won't say just how soon it'll be on sale.

To put the Ridgeline sales into context: Ford sells as many F-sereis trucks in a week as Honda's sold Ridgelines in 10 months.