Honda
Head Of Honda R&D Pessimistic About Electric Vehicles
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Tomohiko Kawanabe, Honda‘s president of research & development, expressed doubts about consumer demand for electric vehicles. “We lack confidence,” Kawanabe said in an interview with Automotive News.“It’s questionable whether consumers will accept the annoyances of limited driving range and having to spend time charging them.”Rival automakers like Nissan and General Motors are pushing ahead with…
Next-Gen Honda Civic Delayed Until 2011
The next-generation Honda Civic will be delayed until 2011, possibly as a 2012 model year car. This will put the Civic significantly past the typical five-year cycle, stretching until six or possibly even seven years before the ninth-generation car debuts. The current Civic arrived back in September of 2005, making it already quite dated. Honda…
Honda Tops Toyota in Customer Loyalty
According to a new survey by Consumer Reports, Honda has surpassed Toyota to become the number one brand for customer loyalty in the U.S. According to the new report performed in April, 68 percent of current Honda owners said they would “most likely” buy another Honda – up one percentage point. Toyota slipped to third…
Honda Tries Novel Approach With CR-Z, Targeting Older Enthusiasts
Car companies are eternally focused on capturing the all important “youth-market”, some even going as far as to create “youth brands”, like Toyota and their Scion line-up. Honda appears to be taking the opposite track with the launch of their new CR-Z hybrid sports car, hoping to take advantage of the demographic that was in…
Demand For Honda Light Trucks Is Strong
Demand for Honda’s light trucks, like the CR-V, Pilot and Ridgeline, with the company posting a 33% sales increase for light trucks compared to 2009. High demand and lower inventory levels mean that Honda has been able to stave off the barrage of incentives that rival Toyota has been promoting, due to a series of…
Ford Ranger Hangs In There For April, Outsells Mustang, Suburban, Fit
The Ford Ranger has been on the market for 12 years in its current incarnation, and while the Ford F-Series might be America’s favorite truck, the Ranger doesn’t look like its slowing down any time soon either. With the April sales numbers released yesterday, Pickuptrucks.com made the startling discovery that in April of 2010, the…
Next-Gen Insight Will Beat Prius in Fuel-Economy Says Honda CEO
Honda‘s newish Insight hybrid had a lot of buzz when it first launched, but in just a year it has since faded into oblivion. Sure it undercut the Prius in price, but it didn’t get near the mpgs, and wasn’t the sort of dynamic drive that people have come to expect from a Honda. We…
Honda Posts $774M Quarterly Profit, Forecasts Big Gains for Fiscal Year
Strong demand in emerging markets like India and China, as well as a recovering U.S. economy helped Honda post a quarterly profit of $774 million. The Japanese automaker reported a 28 percent increase in sales, to $24.5 billion. Honda is forecasting a $3.7 billion profit through the coming fiscal year (which ends March 31, 2011),…
Mugen Honda CR-Z Demo Car Spotted in the Wild
It seems like we’re going crazy with Honda‘s new CR-Z, showing off Mugen’s initial release, TEIN’s CR-Z and Spoon Sports’ rendition of the popular hybrid in Japan. There’s absolutely no denying the popularity of tuning and customizing hybrids in Japan, and the trend is slowly catching on in North America. It will be mighty interesting…
Woman’s Stolen Honda Accord Re-Surfaces Years Later With VTEC Engine, Manual Transmission, Tuner Parts
Amanda Pogany’s 1996 Honda Accord was stolen from outside her Brooklyn apartment three years ago. When she called the police for help, they did little more than laugh. After all, the Accord is one of the top selling cars in America, and one of the most stolen to boot. But Pogany’s car did turn up,…
Honda CEO “Not Satisfied” With Automaker’s Recent Performance
Honda CEO Takanobu Ito criticized the “complacent” nature of his company at the Beijing Auto Show, taking aim at poor sales figures, a lack of product direction and a need to focus on improving the company’s hybrid systems. Honda’s market share slid by 0.4 percent, with Ito citing the disappointing sales of the Insight hybrid…
Drag Racing Honda CRX Destroyed When Flywheel Flies Loose [video]
While Toyota owners continue to be worried about “unintended acceleration” issues associated with faulty gas pedals, owners of other makes are eagerly testing the limits of their vehicles’ intended acceleration on the quarter mile. Sometimes, however, there are unintended consequences. Take this drag-racing CRX for example and an owner who got one seriously unpleasant surprise…
Honda-Centric FF Squad Reminds Us Why We Love Cars [Video]
Sometimes, life as an auto enthusiast gets a little bleak. Between things like Cash for Clunkers, increasingly tight emissions standards, and increasingly complex (not to mention driver defeating) new cars, it’s easy to forget there are still people out there who love the automobile. This short (2 minute) film focuses on a group of Honda…
New Honda CR-Z Mega Gallery Delivers More of the Sporty Hybrid Than You Can Handle
In love with Honda’s new CR-Z? Then we have a treat for you. Honda Europe has just released a mega-gallery of CR-Z photos, showing the new hybrid sports coupe from so many angles we forget what the CRX looks like. There’s not much new to report about the car, other than the fact that like…
Honda to Cut Civic Type-R Sedan from Lineup
It’s hard to say whether or not the Honda Type-R moniker shares the prestige it did a decade ago with the Integra Type-R. But Honda has recently announced the discontinuation of the Civic Type-R sedan starting August 2010. To us it makes sense, since Honda doesn’t quite have the popularity with their sedans, but rather…
Honda CR-Z Commercial Debuts for Europe [with Video]
Honda has just released a new commercial that will be used to help promote the CR-Z hybrid when it goes on sale later this year. The 90 second spot was filmed in southern Spain and will reportedly be run on networks in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. As for the car itself, the CR-Z…
Honda CR-Z Tuning Keeps Growing With New Tein Suspension Products
Before Tein made their way to North America in the form of Tein USA, the green-branded suspension products were a rarity and collectibles amongst the JDM-fanatics. Oddly enough, when Tein did get established in America it seemed that the goodness of their products got diluted. Once items like their srings became readily available, the prestige…
Report: Honda Ridgeline – End of the Road in 2011?
With no significant changes planned and slow sales, the Ridgeline could well be on borrowed time.
Report: Honda Planning Volt-Style Range Extender Powertrain
Honda is reportedly planning a range-extender “hybrid” powertrain similar to the one used in the Chevy Volt. The news comes via company insiders through a report by Motor Trend. Currently Honda relies on its Integrated Motor Assist (IMA) hybrid setup that is significantly behind the times in terms of technology. The system is compact, light-weight…
Report: Honda Planning Larger, More Powerful Hybrid Coupe
With sales of the Honda CR-Z starting soon in North America, the new hybrid is already far exceeding its sales targets in Japan, which has Honda looking to repeat its success with another model. According to a report by Motor Trend, Honda is working on a larger hybrid coupe that would use a version of…
Report: Honda HSV-010 Race Car Headed to Production Next Year
According to a new report by the reputable German outlet Autobild, Honda will resurrect the NSX after all. That’s right, the article suggests Honda will put its HSV-010 GT race car into production in 2011. The car’s track would be reduced some, with minimal changes to the bodywork and the absence of a GT-car wing….
Spied: 2011 Honda Odyssey Caught Testing in California
Unveiled in concept form at the Chicago Auto Show earlier this year, a forum member at Temple of Vtec became an amateur spy photographer when he snapped several photos of what appears to be the production version of the 2011 (or possibly 2012) Honda Odyssey. The pictures were taken on the 1010 Freeway in Woodland…
Honda HSV-010 Three Car Crash at Super GT Opener at Suzuka [video]
In love with Honda’s HSV-010 GT race car replacement for the NSX in Japan’s Super GT Series? Then you won’t want to watch this. At the very first race of the season at Suzuki, three of the GT500 class cars collided on the front straight, taking out two in spectacular fashion. The video shows the…
Report: Honda CR-Z Orders Reach 7,000 In Japan, Half of Yearly Sales Goal
Honda has already locked down 7,000 orders for its CR-Z hybrid sports car, more than half of the car’s annual sales target of 12,000 units. Still, Honda should be cautiously optimistic as last year sales of the new Insight model started out strong but started to dwindle once Toyota released its third-generation Prius – a…
