Looks like they are really rounding out the sharper lines of previous generations.... I can't wait to see the finished product.
Showing posts with label Canada Car News. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Canada Car News. Show all posts
Honda's big hopes for a new Civics generation
GREG KEENAN — AUTO INDUSTRY REPORTERMARKHAM, ONT.— From Tuesday's Globe and Mail
Published Monday, Feb. 14, 2011 7:49PM EST
Last updated Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2011 8:55AM EST
If Honda Canada Inc. (HMC-N43.950.150.34%) president Masahiro Takedagawa is worried about the Civic plunging out of first place in compact car sales last month, he’s not showing it.
Sales of Honda’s most important vehicle stumbled badly last month, dropping 51 per cent compared to the previous January. They sat behind sales of five other compact cars: the Hyundai Elantra, Toyota Corolla, Mazda3, Chevrolet Cruze and Ford Focus.
“January was a bit unlucky,” Mr. Takedagawa said in an interview, attributing some of the drop to snowstorms wreaking havoc on sales.
“We do also have the snow blower,” he joked. “That helps a lot.”
Honda’s snow blower is not, however, the Civic, which has been the best-selling passenger car in Canada for the past 13 years and the product that has come to define the company in this country.
While the results show just a single month of sales, the presence of cars from two of the Detroit Three auto makers ahead of the Civic is almost unheard of in the compact segment, which represents the biggest chunk of the Canadian market.
The January results underline how the competitive landscape in Canada has become tougher for Honda – and other Japan-based auto makers that have relied on compact cars – amid the rise of Hyundai, the new emphasis Ford is putting on passenger cars and GM’s rebound from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
They also come after a year that saw Honda underperform in the Canadian market. Its sales rose 1 per cent versus a 7-per-cent advance for the market as a whole, at a time when Honda was expected to benefit from the recall crisis that afflicted its arch-rival Toyota Canada Inc.
Mr. Takedagawa and other senior executives are fully aware of the competition.
“Each of our brands, while being well regarded in the Canadian marketplace, is facing significant, unique challenges which must be overcome,” Jerry Chenkin, Honda Canada’s executive vice-president, said last month in a memo to dealers of the company’s Acura luxury brand. “We must develop a more robust marketing effort to ensure that our brand messages resonate with Canadians.”
As Mr. Takedagawa put it: “Marketing, advertising, incentives, discounts; it becomes war, particularly in the compact segment.”
Honda’s immediate response to the disappointing January results was to boost advertising and slap a low interest rate incentive of 0.9-per-cent financing for up to 60 months on the Civic and the second-best seller in Honda’s lineup, the CR-V crossover utility vehicle.
A longer-term solution will arrive in April – in the form of the ninth generation of the car that launched the company’s sales in Canada in 1973.
Honda has shown only concept versions of the car so far and will do so again on Thursday at the opening of the Canadian International Auto Show in Toronto.
Mr. Takedagawa offered one detail: The wheelbase on the 2012 Civic has been shortened by 30 millimetres, providing a sportier ride.
There will be other innovations and upgrades, particularly to electronics components, he added.
“We [will] try to minimize the price increase, but enrich content,” he said in the company’s sparkling new head office in Markham, Ont., north of Toronto. “We don’t believe this is the situation to increase dramatically the price.”
He’s relying on a 22-per-cent jump in Civic sales – to 70,000 this year from 57,501 last year – to propel an overall gain in Honda’s sales to 150,000 from 141,070 in 2010.
But industry sources say the new Civic will have to be dramatically better than the Elantra, Focus, Cruze and others in the segment to generate those kinds of sales numbers.
Mr. Takedagawa also pointed to the redesigned Odyssey minivan that was introduced late last year and a new CR-V coming at the end of 2011 as other vehicles that will help boost sales.
“Everybody has a lot of new product,” said Dennis DesRosiers, president of DesRosiers Automotive Consultants Inc. in Richmond Hill, Ont. “How do you distinguish yourself?”
As for last year, Mr. Takedagawa and Mr. Chenkin point to a shift in the market to pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles as one reason for Honda’s underperformance. That shift appears to have been driven in part by Canadians’ comfort with gas prices above $1 a litre.
“We saw some crazy advertising where a manufacturer is offering a $14,000 rebate on a pickup,” Mr. Chenkin said. “You can buy a lot of gas for $14,000.”
The CR-V and other crossovers performed well in the market shift, but Honda’s Ridgeline, a combination of pickup and SUV, doesn’t compete directly with the Ford F-series, Chevrolet Silverado and Dodge Ram pickups, all of which experienced double-digit sales gains last year.
Mr. Takedagawa said he spent much of last year focusing on reducing a vast oversupply of vehicles at the company’s dealers in Canada, reducing the days supply of vehicles – a key measure in the auto industry – to a healthy 56, from more than 100 last March.
Honda has also restructured its marketing and sales initiatives in Canada so that there are now three distinct brands representing Honda, Acura and the motorcycle and power business.
In addition, about 50 salaried employees and executives have opted for early retirement after the company offered such incentives for the first time in its history in Canada.
______
THE NINE LIVES OF THE HONDA CIVIC
1972
First generation
The car that started the Honda ride in Canada in 1973 offered great fuel economy at a time of soaring gas prices, based on its four-cylinder engine, light weight and front-wheel drive.
Canadian sales, 1972: 747
––––
1979
Second generation
The 1979 redesign included a new version of the fuel-efficient CVCC engine, plus four-door sedan and station wagon versions of the subcompact.
Canadian sales, ’79: 19,880
––––
1983
Third generation
The boxy 1983 Civic had more interior space and came in three-door, four-door and five-door versions.
Canadian sales, ‘83: 18,903
––––
1987
Fourth generation
By 1987, Honda was offering five different engines and a double-wishbone suspension. The auto maker began assembling the car in Alliston, Ont., that year and added a second shift of workers in 1988.
Canadian sales, ‘87: 25,831
––––
1991
Fifth generation
Styling changed dramatically in 1991. A new VTEC engine replaced the CVCC, including a 170-horsepower version.
Canadian sales, ‘91: 50,320
––––
1995
Sixth generation
The sixth generation, available beginning in 1995, offered evolutionary changes in styling and included the option of a variable speed automatic transmission.
Canadian sales, ‘95: 33,386
––––
2000
Seventh generation
The Civic continued to get bigger with a 2000 redesign. By now, it was competing in the compact segment in North America.
Canadian sales, 2000: 60,407
––––
2006
Eighth generation
By 2006, Civic is much more global, tailored to different tastes in different markets and being produced at a Honda plant in China for the first time.
Canadian sales, ‘08: 72,463, an annual Canadian sales record.
––––
2012
Ninth generation
The 2012 version will start rolling off assembly lines in Alliston and Greensburg, Ind., in April. There are 930,000 Civics still on the road in Canada, representing about 4 per cent of the existing Canadian fleet of 22.3 million vehicles. Cumulative Canadian sales total 1,569,465 since 1973.
Greg Keenan
Source;
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/hondas-big-hopes-for-a-new-civics-generation/article1907083/page2/
HONDA CIVIC STAYS ON TOP AS CANADA'S TOP-SELLING CAR (13th yr in a row!)
TORONTO, Jan. 5 /CNW/ - With sales of 57,501 units in 2010, Honda Civic retained its position as Canada's top-selling passenger car for the 13th consecutive year. Since 1973, nearly 1.6 million Honda Civics have been sold in Canada, making Civic a leader in the Canadian automotive landscape. An all-new, 9th-generation, 2012-model Civic will go on sale this spring."We thank the thousands of Canadians who bought Honda Civic models this past year to make it Canada's number one car for the 13th year in a row," said Jerry Chenkin, executive vice president of Honda Canada Inc. "We appreciate and value these new car buyers' vote of confidence in Civic with its strong resale value, excellent fuel efficiency, top-of-class safety features and fun-to-drive character."
"With the exception of the Civic Hybrid, all Civic models sold in Canada are made here in Canada. We are proud of our investment in Canada as a leading vehicle manufacturer. In fact, nearly half of all the vehicles we sold in Canada in 2010 were built in Canada, including the Honda Civic and Acura MDX, ZDX and the Canadian-exclusive CSX."
Of the more than 5.3 million Honda and Acura vehicles that the Honda of Canada Mfg. assembly plants in Alliston, Ontario, have produced over the past 24 years, more than 3 million of those have been Honda Civic models.
Now in its 41st year of operation in Canada, Honda Canada builds the Honda Civic and Acura MDX, ZDX and CSX at its two plants in Alliston, Ontario, and produces fuel-efficient 4-cylinder engines for Civic production at its adjacent engine plant.
Source;
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/January2011/05/c8692.html
Honda Civic remains number one in Canada
By Alan McPhee, Special to The Daily News December 2, 2010Now in its eighth generation, the Honda Civic has come a long way from the stubby sub-compact hatchback that landed on our shores in 1972. It was a revelation, with many industry-leading design and engineering features that would, over time, be copied by others. Over the years it has been steadily refined and improved, growing from sub-compact to compact, adding more performance, fuel efficiency and convenience features in response to customer needs. Since 1997 it has been the top-selling car in Canada, comfortably ahead of Mazda3, Toyota Corolla and Hyundai Elantra.
The big difference today, is that that the Civic is available in no less than 9 different models -- five sedans and four coupes -- appealing to a diverse audience with different needs and desires. No other company offers a vehicle with so many choices. Today's Civic is leaner, cleaner, more sophisticated and, with nearly 40 years of development behind it, reliable as a hammer.
For the rest of the article, follow the link;
http://www.canada.com/Honda+Civic+remains+number/3916502/story.html
2011 Honda Odyssey Trim Levels and Colours for Canada
2011 Honda Odyssey LX (Cloth)Model Code: RL5H2BE
Colours;
NH-578 Taffeta White w/TR interior
NH-700M Alabaster Silver w/TR interior
NH-737M Polished Metal Metallic w/Grey interior
YR-573M Beige w/Beige interior
2011 Honda Odyssey EX (Cloth)
Model Code: RL5H4BE
Colours; (as above and adding)
B-564M Blue w/Grey interior
2011 Honda Odyssey EX RES (Cloth w/DVD)
Model Code: RL5H4BEX
Colours; (same as above)
2011 Honda Odyssey EX-L RES (Leather w/DVD)
Model Code: RL5H6BJ
Colours; (as above and adding)
NH731P Crystal Black Pearl w/Grey interior
2011 Honda Odyssey Touring (Elite?)
Model Code: RL5H8BK
Colours; (same as above)
Source;
Honda Canada
Details on Nissan Leaf battery pack, including how recharging speed affects battery life
Interesting....
Nissan broke ground on a new battery plant in Smyrna, Tennessee yesterday (figuratively, anyway, the actual bulldozing doesn't start for a few weeks). For now, we will call this the U.S. Leaf battery plant, but it's really part of Nissan's strategy to electrify more and more of its vehicles. As we mentioned yesterday, once it is up and running at the end of 2012, the plant will have the capacity to make 200,000 battery packs a year. The nearby vehicle assembly facility where the U.S.-built Leafs will come to life will have a maximum capacity to make 150,000 Leafs a year alongside other Nissan vehicles like the Altima and Pathfinder. The extra capacity, if used, could be sold to other automakers or go into non-Leaf Nissan products.
In Smyrna yesterday, Nissan's director of product planning, Mark Perry, gave AutoblogGreen some more information on the Leaf battery pack. As we know, Nissan says the 24 kWh pack gives the Leaf a 100-mile range on the gentle LA4 cycle (meaning it probably isn't a totally reliable guide to estimate real-world driving). Still, this means the test packs have been charged and discharged a lot, because Perry said Nissan has done "hundreds of thousands" of miles of reliability testing on the battery packs, including dunking them in a pool and freezing them. Not that we'd expect him to say anything different, but Perry is confident that the battery pack is totally safe.
What's in the pack? 48 modules, each with four cells (so, 192 cells total) arranged in a big square. The part that sits under the real seat is a little taller than the rest, as the modules are stacked vertically while the other modules lay horizontal under the front seats and floor. The entire pack weighs around 600 pounds and contains around 9 pounds of lithium. How will people use the Leaf? Find out Nissan's expectations after the jump.
Once out in the real world, Nissan expects most Leaf charging to be done using Level 2 (240V) units, because that's what most people will get at home and what will be used in public chargers. Level 2 chargers can get the pack from zero to 100 percent in about eight hours. Level 3/direct quick charging could happen, but it's not widely available yet. Meanwhile, Level 1, aka recharging from a standard 110V outlet, will be "more for emergencies," Perry said. It'll also take ages (think 20+ hours).
How you recharge the pack will affect its life. Nissan has said it expects to Leaf drivers to have around 70 to 80 percent capacity left in the pack after ten years. What will get drivers to the upper or lower end of that range? The amount of fast charging one does. With regular Level 2 charging, drivers should expect 80 percent live left in the battery. With a lot of Level 3 charging – two or three times a day – the pack will only be at the 70 percent level. Level 3 charging is appealing because it can get the battery from zero to 80 percent full in under 30 minutes, but there is a very clear drawback if it becomes a habit. Perry said that most people will be happy with 240V home charging:
The people who drive EVs today, they talk about charging like this: "Charging to me is five seconds. I plug it in, I walk away and forget about it." To them, it's really pretty simple.
What might be coming down the road? Perry said there is no Moore's law in battery production, but did say Nissan is seeing about an eight percent improvement in things like cost reduction, range and efficiency, year over year. Whether this results in cheaper packs or lighter/smaller/better ones will depend on what the early adopters do with their Leafs and what they tell Nissan they want. What's your preference?
PRESS RELEASE
Type: Laminated lithium-ion battery
Total capacity (kWh): 24
Power output (kW): Over 90
Number of modules: 48
Battery pack contents:
-Positive electrodes
– Lithium manganate-Negative electrodes
– Carbon-Cells-Modules-Assembly parts
Charging times:
-Quick charger DC50kW (0 to 80%): apx. 30 min
-Home-use AC240V charging dock (0-100%): less than 8 hrs
Battery layout: Under seat & floor
Battery life: After 10 years, the battery is expected to have 70-80 percent of its original storage capacity.
Source;
http://green.autoblog.com/2010/05/27/details-on-nissan-leaf-battery-pack-including-how-recharging-sp/
Nissan broke ground on a new battery plant in Smyrna, Tennessee yesterday (figuratively, anyway, the actual bulldozing doesn't start for a few weeks). For now, we will call this the U.S. Leaf battery plant, but it's really part of Nissan's strategy to electrify more and more of its vehicles. As we mentioned yesterday, once it is up and running at the end of 2012, the plant will have the capacity to make 200,000 battery packs a year. The nearby vehicle assembly facility where the U.S.-built Leafs will come to life will have a maximum capacity to make 150,000 Leafs a year alongside other Nissan vehicles like the Altima and Pathfinder. The extra capacity, if used, could be sold to other automakers or go into non-Leaf Nissan products.In Smyrna yesterday, Nissan's director of product planning, Mark Perry, gave AutoblogGreen some more information on the Leaf battery pack. As we know, Nissan says the 24 kWh pack gives the Leaf a 100-mile range on the gentle LA4 cycle (meaning it probably isn't a totally reliable guide to estimate real-world driving). Still, this means the test packs have been charged and discharged a lot, because Perry said Nissan has done "hundreds of thousands" of miles of reliability testing on the battery packs, including dunking them in a pool and freezing them. Not that we'd expect him to say anything different, but Perry is confident that the battery pack is totally safe.
What's in the pack? 48 modules, each with four cells (so, 192 cells total) arranged in a big square. The part that sits under the real seat is a little taller than the rest, as the modules are stacked vertically while the other modules lay horizontal under the front seats and floor. The entire pack weighs around 600 pounds and contains around 9 pounds of lithium. How will people use the Leaf? Find out Nissan's expectations after the jump.
Once out in the real world, Nissan expects most Leaf charging to be done using Level 2 (240V) units, because that's what most people will get at home and what will be used in public chargers. Level 2 chargers can get the pack from zero to 100 percent in about eight hours. Level 3/direct quick charging could happen, but it's not widely available yet. Meanwhile, Level 1, aka recharging from a standard 110V outlet, will be "more for emergencies," Perry said. It'll also take ages (think 20+ hours).
How you recharge the pack will affect its life. Nissan has said it expects to Leaf drivers to have around 70 to 80 percent capacity left in the pack after ten years. What will get drivers to the upper or lower end of that range? The amount of fast charging one does. With regular Level 2 charging, drivers should expect 80 percent live left in the battery. With a lot of Level 3 charging – two or three times a day – the pack will only be at the 70 percent level. Level 3 charging is appealing because it can get the battery from zero to 80 percent full in under 30 minutes, but there is a very clear drawback if it becomes a habit. Perry said that most people will be happy with 240V home charging:
The people who drive EVs today, they talk about charging like this: "Charging to me is five seconds. I plug it in, I walk away and forget about it." To them, it's really pretty simple.
What might be coming down the road? Perry said there is no Moore's law in battery production, but did say Nissan is seeing about an eight percent improvement in things like cost reduction, range and efficiency, year over year. Whether this results in cheaper packs or lighter/smaller/better ones will depend on what the early adopters do with their Leafs and what they tell Nissan they want. What's your preference?
PRESS RELEASE
Type: Laminated lithium-ion battery
Total capacity (kWh): 24
Power output (kW): Over 90
Number of modules: 48
Battery pack contents:
-Positive electrodes
– Lithium manganate-Negative electrodes
– Carbon-Cells-Modules-Assembly parts
Charging times:
-Quick charger DC50kW (0 to 80%): apx. 30 min
-Home-use AC240V charging dock (0-100%): less than 8 hrs
Battery layout: Under seat & floor
Battery life: After 10 years, the battery is expected to have 70-80 percent of its original storage capacity.
Source;
http://green.autoblog.com/2010/05/27/details-on-nissan-leaf-battery-pack-including-how-recharging-sp/
2010 Honda Civic Hybrid
Yes, there will be a 2010 Honda Civic Hybrid and No, there won't be any changes.Source;
Honda Canada
2011 Honda Pilot Changes for Canada
3 BIG changes coming....(detect sarcasim)
2011 Product Changes:
Delete Colour: Bali Blue Pearl
Colour Change: White Diamond Peral replaces Taffeta White.
Feature Adjustment: Ambient Console Lighting now availabile on all trims
Trim levels remain the same;
LX 2WD
LX 4WD
EX
EX-L
EX-L RES
EX-L Touring
Source;
Honda Canada
2011 Product Changes:Delete Colour: Bali Blue Pearl
Colour Change: White Diamond Peral replaces Taffeta White.
Feature Adjustment: Ambient Console Lighting now availabile on all trims
Trim levels remain the same;
LX 2WD
LX 4WD
EX
EX-L
EX-L RES
EX-L Touring
Source;
Honda Canada
2011 Honda CR-Z *Canadian Info*
Here are the 2X trim levels that appear to be available for launch2011 Honda CR-Z Automatic Transmission
2011 Honda CR-Z 6 Speed Manual Transmission
The 3X Colours that will be available at launch for both Trims will be;
NH-624P White exterior with Black interior
NH-642M Grey exterior with Black interior
BG-57P Blue exterior with Black interior
Expected Release Date;
Late June/early July
That's all for now....
Source;
Honda Canada
2009 Honda Pilot Touring 4WD - Long-Term Road Test
Here's a good read, they put 40,000 miles on their 2009 Honda Pilot and go over the results....
Ground Control: Another pilot as reliable as Captain Sully.
At Harry Houdini’s funeral, Broadway producers Charles Dillingham and Florenz Ziegfeld agreed to be pallbearers. As they hoisted the coffin out of the church, Dillingham said, “Ziggie, I bet you a hundred bucks he ain’t in here.”
So popular was our long-term Honda Pilot Touring 4WD that, during the summer vacation months, you could likewise bet that its keys weren’t hanging on the sign-out board but were, instead, somewhere out of state. We should have called it the Honda Houdini.
Our Pilot logged its requisite 40,000 miles in 53 weeks, during which spell its 250-hp, 3.5-liter V-6 was rarely cool. The Pilot visited Ohio, New Jersey, Minnesota, both Dakotas, Wisconsin, Minnesota, the Hershey swap meet, Yellowstone National Park, a Kruse auction, and Manhattan Island. It also carried maybe 350 pounds’ worth of camera and camping gear to Montana in support of our “The Hard Way to Hemingway” feature [December 2009].
In Big Sky country, the Pilot bumped its way along roughly 100 miles of Forest Service roads, where we failed to knock off the chin spoiler but repeatedly scraped the twin chrome exhaust tips while exiting gullies and washouts. We never fully tested its 19-inch wading potential, but, as capabilities go, it was comforting.
Honda has blessed the Pilot with practical design cues aplenty. There’s a useful storage bin beneath the rear third of the cargo bay, cleverly proportioned so that it can still be used when the third-row seats are upright. The backlight opens independently of the rear hatch, and its wiper sweeps about 80 percent of the glass. The IP gauges are paragons of clarity, although the 50 center-stack buttons, dials, and switches are daunting, especially the identical radio volume and tuning knobs, which are confusingly mounted directly atop one another. And here’s something you don’t often see: The automatic temperature control can be set as low as 58 degrees and as high as 86 degrees.
During its life with us, the Pilot was as reliable as congressional spending. It required routine servicing four times, for oil, tire rotation, a variety of inspections, one new cabin air filter, and, strangely, two fresh loads of rear differential lubricant. Those four stops cost $566. Along the way, we replaced the front-wiper-blade inserts ($10), and the V-6 consumed but a half quart of extracurricular oil. The lone item to malfunction was a two-inch plastic trim piece, which fell off during Week One, but we’ll be damned if we can find what it was attached to. Automobiles don’t get more reliable than that.
We did, however, experience a faint, intermittent pulsing through the brake pedal, as if one rotor were mildly warped. It never rose to any appreciable level of annoyance, and, in any event, the pulsing would reliably vanish just before each servicing.
Curiously, the Pilot’s gray leather seats, fore and aft, took on a somewhat disgusting beige patina of, oh, say, the towel that hangs above the french-fry vat at Irvel’s All-U-Can-Eat. This Honda’s leather has a pebbled surface, and the interstices between pebbles apparently are uniquely talented at collecting grime. We scrubbed the cushions first with Griot’s Interior Cleaner, then Armor All Multi-Purpose Auto Cleaner, then plain old Windex. Each worked equally well, which is to say not very. The seats still look as though they should be steam-cleaned with Clorox. In addition, the liftgate’s interior plastic panel appears to have been mauled by a wolverine wielding a cheese grater.
Otherwise, the seats in the Pilot approached perfection: firm but never confining, with an aggressive lower-back bolster much appreciated by the over-50 crowd. Our pilots piloted the Pilot on dozens of 10-to-12-hour slogs. For such spells, the seats drew nothing but praise, and, on at least two occasions, we loaded the vehicle to its eight-passenger capacity. Briefly.
Other complaints? Well, the Pilot’s V-6 produces less power than five of its close competitors, a trait that occasionally drew attention during passing maneuvers and on-ramp sprints. When new, the Pilot required 7.9 seconds to get to 60 mph; a year later, it was 0.2 second quicker. Editors who deployed the Pilot as a tow vehicle—trailering, for instance, a 6-by-12-foot U-Haul box, a 600-pound catamaran, and a Honda S2000 race car—resigned themselves to leisurely motoring, with fuel economy dipping as low as 9 mpg.
The other major criticism was that the Acura MDX–based Pilot always felt, well, a little more truckish than SUVish. In part, that perception can be blamed on the slightly heavy steering. But around town, in particular, the Pilot felt a tad slow-witted, larger than its actual dimensions, and less than eager to make directional changes. Squirting in and out of holes in traffic—and zigzagging through crowded parking lots—required care and forethought.
There were also a few beefs about road noise. The Pilot’s firm suspension was adept at yielding to scabrous pavement, but the Michelin LTXs and the 17-inch wheels too audibly telegraphed their outrage with various ka-thunks and ker-blams. On the other hand, the knobby tires were terrific in the snow.
For the rest of the article follow the link;
http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/car/10q1/2009_honda_pilot_touring_4wd-long-term_road_test
Ground Control: Another pilot as reliable as Captain Sully.
At Harry Houdini’s funeral, Broadway producers Charles Dillingham and Florenz Ziegfeld agreed to be pallbearers. As they hoisted the coffin out of the church, Dillingham said, “Ziggie, I bet you a hundred bucks he ain’t in here.”So popular was our long-term Honda Pilot Touring 4WD that, during the summer vacation months, you could likewise bet that its keys weren’t hanging on the sign-out board but were, instead, somewhere out of state. We should have called it the Honda Houdini.
Our Pilot logged its requisite 40,000 miles in 53 weeks, during which spell its 250-hp, 3.5-liter V-6 was rarely cool. The Pilot visited Ohio, New Jersey, Minnesota, both Dakotas, Wisconsin, Minnesota, the Hershey swap meet, Yellowstone National Park, a Kruse auction, and Manhattan Island. It also carried maybe 350 pounds’ worth of camera and camping gear to Montana in support of our “The Hard Way to Hemingway” feature [December 2009].
In Big Sky country, the Pilot bumped its way along roughly 100 miles of Forest Service roads, where we failed to knock off the chin spoiler but repeatedly scraped the twin chrome exhaust tips while exiting gullies and washouts. We never fully tested its 19-inch wading potential, but, as capabilities go, it was comforting.
Honda has blessed the Pilot with practical design cues aplenty. There’s a useful storage bin beneath the rear third of the cargo bay, cleverly proportioned so that it can still be used when the third-row seats are upright. The backlight opens independently of the rear hatch, and its wiper sweeps about 80 percent of the glass. The IP gauges are paragons of clarity, although the 50 center-stack buttons, dials, and switches are daunting, especially the identical radio volume and tuning knobs, which are confusingly mounted directly atop one another. And here’s something you don’t often see: The automatic temperature control can be set as low as 58 degrees and as high as 86 degrees.
During its life with us, the Pilot was as reliable as congressional spending. It required routine servicing four times, for oil, tire rotation, a variety of inspections, one new cabin air filter, and, strangely, two fresh loads of rear differential lubricant. Those four stops cost $566. Along the way, we replaced the front-wiper-blade inserts ($10), and the V-6 consumed but a half quart of extracurricular oil. The lone item to malfunction was a two-inch plastic trim piece, which fell off during Week One, but we’ll be damned if we can find what it was attached to. Automobiles don’t get more reliable than that.
We did, however, experience a faint, intermittent pulsing through the brake pedal, as if one rotor were mildly warped. It never rose to any appreciable level of annoyance, and, in any event, the pulsing would reliably vanish just before each servicing.
Curiously, the Pilot’s gray leather seats, fore and aft, took on a somewhat disgusting beige patina of, oh, say, the towel that hangs above the french-fry vat at Irvel’s All-U-Can-Eat. This Honda’s leather has a pebbled surface, and the interstices between pebbles apparently are uniquely talented at collecting grime. We scrubbed the cushions first with Griot’s Interior Cleaner, then Armor All Multi-Purpose Auto Cleaner, then plain old Windex. Each worked equally well, which is to say not very. The seats still look as though they should be steam-cleaned with Clorox. In addition, the liftgate’s interior plastic panel appears to have been mauled by a wolverine wielding a cheese grater.
Otherwise, the seats in the Pilot approached perfection: firm but never confining, with an aggressive lower-back bolster much appreciated by the over-50 crowd. Our pilots piloted the Pilot on dozens of 10-to-12-hour slogs. For such spells, the seats drew nothing but praise, and, on at least two occasions, we loaded the vehicle to its eight-passenger capacity. Briefly.
Other complaints? Well, the Pilot’s V-6 produces less power than five of its close competitors, a trait that occasionally drew attention during passing maneuvers and on-ramp sprints. When new, the Pilot required 7.9 seconds to get to 60 mph; a year later, it was 0.2 second quicker. Editors who deployed the Pilot as a tow vehicle—trailering, for instance, a 6-by-12-foot U-Haul box, a 600-pound catamaran, and a Honda S2000 race car—resigned themselves to leisurely motoring, with fuel economy dipping as low as 9 mpg.
The other major criticism was that the Acura MDX–based Pilot always felt, well, a little more truckish than SUVish. In part, that perception can be blamed on the slightly heavy steering. But around town, in particular, the Pilot felt a tad slow-witted, larger than its actual dimensions, and less than eager to make directional changes. Squirting in and out of holes in traffic—and zigzagging through crowded parking lots—required care and forethought.
There were also a few beefs about road noise. The Pilot’s firm suspension was adept at yielding to scabrous pavement, but the Michelin LTXs and the 17-inch wheels too audibly telegraphed their outrage with various ka-thunks and ker-blams. On the other hand, the knobby tires were terrific in the snow.
For the rest of the article follow the link;
http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/car/10q1/2009_honda_pilot_touring_4wd-long-term_road_test
Incoming new president for Honda Canada Inc
Honda Canada Inc will have a new President and Director beginning April 1.Masahiro Takedagawa, president of Honda Siel Cars India since 2005, will take over from Manabu Nishimae, who will have served less than two years when the changeover takes effect.
"During the five years of Takedagawa's leadership, HSCI witnessed rapid expansion from a production capacity of 30,000 units per annum in year 2005 to 100,000 units per annum in 2008 and commensurate increase in dealership network from 52 facilities in 41 cities (March 2005) to the current 117 facilities in 70 cities," according to a published report out of India. "The sales turnover of the company has more than doubled during his tenure."
That's the kind of touch Honda is counting on Mr. Takedagawa to bring to its Canadian operations now in the midst of a near two-year period marked by declining vehicle sales, production cuts, shift reductions, contract worker terminations, cuts to employee perks and wage and salary freezes.
Source;
http://www.madhunt.com/honda-can-inc-prz-20100224.htm
Rendered Speculation: Porsche 928 successor
I've got to admit this is one sweet looking concept....
If all the rumors, wishes and Internet chatter about a new Porsche 928 can actually make the car happen, we are all for it – there are few automobiles we miss as lustily as the 1992-1995 928 GTS. We do know that Porsche has seven new models in the works and a 928 successor could be one of them, but until we have something more substantial to go on it looks like we're in for a slew of crowd-sourced renderings.
The above is from Teamspeed forum member Wildspeed, who's done a thorough job of melding Panamera and early 928 cues with a bit of flourish around the front wheel wells. If it comes in a manual version we'll consider it. You can have a better look at it in the high-res image and let us know what you think of Wildspeed's 928 and the GT's speculators in Comments. -Autoblog
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http://www.autoblog.com/2010/02/18/rendered-speculation-porsche-928-successor/
If all the rumors, wishes and Internet chatter about a new Porsche 928 can actually make the car happen, we are all for it – there are few automobiles we miss as lustily as the 1992-1995 928 GTS. We do know that Porsche has seven new models in the works and a 928 successor could be one of them, but until we have something more substantial to go on it looks like we're in for a slew of crowd-sourced renderings.The above is from Teamspeed forum member Wildspeed, who's done a thorough job of melding Panamera and early 928 cues with a bit of flourish around the front wheel wells. If it comes in a manual version we'll consider it. You can have a better look at it in the high-res image and let us know what you think of Wildspeed's 928 and the GT's speculators in Comments. -Autoblog
Source;
http://www.autoblog.com/2010/02/18/rendered-speculation-porsche-928-successor/
Back to basics: Honda's new pocket rocket
Honda used to sell a wonderful little pocket rocket called the CR-X, a sporty version of the Civic that to this day still has a core following. These owners are active in clubs, sharing parts, performance tuning tips and all sorts of stories and experiences.The CR-X was really Honda's halo car from the early 1980s to the early 1990s. And then wham! No more. Honda apparently grew up and put its toy car away. Some argue that was a colossal blunder.
But by global car company standards, Honda is a relative pipsqueak – its sales volumes are just more than a third of Toyota's. So with the SUV and minivan boom of the 1990s, the fun-to-drive little CR-X gave way to Honda Odyssey minivans and, later, Pilot SUVs, Ridgeline pickups and bigger Accords and Civics.
Well, Honda says it is back-to-the-future time. The 21st century incarnation of the CR-X is coming this summer as a two-seater hybrid, and we saw the production version of it in January at the Detroit auto show. It's called the CR-Z and it appears to be part of a back-to-basics movement at Honda.
Back to basics not in terms of technology Рwe are talking about a hybrid, after all Рbut in terms of Honda's focus on small, fuel-efficient cars. There is, indeed, an updated version of the Odyssey also coming this year, but it's not going to play the same pivotal role in Honda's lineup that it once did. Minivans, as we all know, have become somewhat pass̩.
But small cars? That's Honda.
“We can make money on small cars because that's our business,” says Jerry Chenkin, executive vice-president of Honda Canada.
The fact is, despite the global recession and the dramatic slump in new car sales everywhere but China, Honda has suffered less than most. The key is a lineup of fuel-efficient cars and flexible factories that can shift quickly to meet changes in consumer demand. Honda was one of the few Japanese auto makers to end 2008 in the black and is one of the fewer still predicting a profit in its current fiscal year, which ends March 31.
“We are profitable and we're going to stay that way,” says Chenkin. “We are not chasing volume at the expense of profits,” he adds, taking a subtle but direct swipe at Toyota, whose quest to become the world's No. 1 auto maker is at the root of its problems today.
The CR-Z is designed to tap into memories of the CR-X, but it is more than that. It joins the Insight and Civic as the third hybrid option in the Honda lineup. So far, Honda has had little luck selling hybrids in great numbers or for healthy profits. But Chenkin thinks the sporty CR-Z will be different.
It's not intended to be a high-volume car, like the Insight. So even though the price is expected to be in the mid-$20,000s or higher, Honda expects to attract a smallish but loyal and dedicated following – buyers willing to pay a modest premium for what is arguably the world's first affordable sporty hybrid in mass production. Honda is shooting for annual sales of 10,000 CR-Zs.
Moreover, Honda officials hint that future hybrid models will be unveiled at upcoming auto shows in Chicago and New York. If Honda has one trait as a company, it is stubbornness, and that means Honda will not give up on its hybrid strategy despite disappointing Insight sales in Canada and the United States.
The gasoline-electric hybrid CR-Z generates 122 horsepower with fuel economy estimated at 6.5 litres/100 km in the city and 6.2 on the highway. It can be driven in one of three modes – “sport,” “normal” and “econ.” Using a 1.5-litre gas engine (basically the same one in the Fit hatchback) and a less-powerful version of the electric motor in the Insight and Civic hybrids, the CR-Z should be able to hit 100 km/h from a stop in less than 10 seconds.
And there's more. In Detroit, Honda Motor chief executive officer Takanobu Ito said he has challenged his research and development staff to develop a hybrid that exceeds the fuel economy of the Toyota Prius hybrid.
“We want to develop and expand our hybrids,” Ito, 56, said during an interview with The Detroit Free Press. “We made some major sacrifices to shift people and resources to do that.”
Honda, it's reported, is now ready to expand its small-vehicle hybrid system to other platforms. However, Honda's large-vehicle hybrid platform is not ready.
All these moves are designed to put Honda back on track with its roots, after years of investing in big vehicles such as the Pilot. Indeed, even Honda's bread-and-butter offerings, the Accord mid-size car and the Civic compact, have grown bigger and bigger, year after year.
The result is that after decades of claiming the best overall fuel economy – fleet-wide fuel economy – Honda is now facing a particularly fierce fuel-efficiency challenge from Hyundai.
South Korea's largest car maker, said in December that it bested Honda in 2009 model year fuel economy, citing U.S. Environmental Protection Agency data. Figures on the U.S. agency's website put Hyundai models at 30.1 mpg in 2009 versus 29.7 mpg for Honda. In Canada, Hyundai is scrambling to somehow use this claim in its marketing, but this is problematic in that Natural Resources Canada does not provide similar EPA fleet-wide comparison data.
But in the United States, officials say they can see that Hyundai has thrown down the gauntlet. The push at Honda now is to reclaim its title as most fuel-efficient auto maker. This matters. Car companies see fuel efficiency, low emissions and advanced powertrains as competitive tools to attract 21st century buyers.
There is also the small matter of stricter fuel-economy rules coming into force. By 2016, car companies in both Canada and the United States will need to be selling fleets that average, overall, 6.7 litres/100 km or 35 mpg.
In all this, of course, Hyundai is certainly not the only auto maker posing a challenge to Honda. Toyota has plenty of fuel-efficient offerings and plans to expand its hybrid lineup, too. Ford and GM are also moving into alternative powertrains – hybrids and electric vehicles – while also pushing ahead with more efficient traditional engines.
Some, such as Eric Noble, president of the Car Lab consulting firm, think it might be too late for Honda to reclaim the “green halo.”
“It's been three generations of Prius and dozens of announcements from competitors,” he said in Detroit.
Ito was undeterred.
“Of course we want the most efficient engines,” Ito told reporters. “Competitors are catching up and I feel pressure from this. I don't want to lose out.”
Yet even while Honda is working on hybrids and various cleaner and more fuel efficient technologies, the Tokyo-based company – the world's largest engine maker – has also been pushing hard to advance hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles.
Only last week, Honda unveiled its next-generation solar hydrogen station prototype in Los Angeles. This station is ultimately intended for home use, to refuel hydrogen fuel cell vehicles over night.
Honda already has leased five of its emission-free FCX Clarity fuel-cell cars in the U.S. in each of the past two years. Canadian Olympic hockey captain Scott Niedermayer is one of the lessees.
As Honda pushes ahead with new products and new technologies, looming in the background is a variable completely out of all auto makers' control: currency valuations. Over the last year, the Japanese yen has grown stronger as the U.S. dollar has weakened. In fact, while the yen is currently trading in the ¥90-to-the-dollar range, it has been as strong as ¥80 to the dollar.
Therefore, it's tough to make money exporting cars from Japan. In Canada, more than 90 per cent of Honda's sales volume is built in North America, so the company is largely insulated from exchange rates. But the subcompact Fit is not only imported from Japan, it is subject to a 6.1-per-cent tariff, making it impossible to price the Fit as low as Honda Canada would like. Fit production is almost assuredly coming to North America.
But in an interview with trade journal Automotive News, Ito warned that certain advanced technologies must at least for now be exported from Japan and that will make them pricier than Honda would really like – at least here in Canada and the United States. The hybrid unit in the Civic, Insight and CR-Z is made in Japan and the hybrid system Honda is developing for large models will also be exported from Japan.
Honda is also struggling to maintain its product development budgets while turning a profit and maintaining its schedule for updating models. Ito concedes that the development team of the next world Civic has shifted its focus to enhance fuel economy even more than originally planned, while also improving performance.
The Civic team is “struggling” to do that, and also to cut costs to make its models “more profitable,” he says.
Honda insiders, in fact, say they are anxious to introduce a new model that is a clear-cut grand slam hit in the marketplace. Honda's lineup is strong enough, but a truly “wow” car would do wonders.
More than a few Honda types are holding their breath, hoping the CR-Z is it.
Source;
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-drive/new-cars/auto-news/back-to-basics-for-honda/article1455009/
2011 TSX will be the first hybrid Acura
With the addition of hybrids to the lineup, Acura dealers are expected to cheer up after having been disheartened over the cancellation of plans for V-8s and rear-wheel-drive vehicles. Honda Motor Co. CEO Takanobu Ito confirmed that the luxury brand will get hybrid variants.No time frame was given. It also wasn’t disclosed which models will get the technology. An Acura dealer said that a hybrid version of the TSX sedan is planned for the 2011 model year and two other hybrid models will follow soon after.
In an interview conducted at the Detroit Auto Show, Ito said that Honda still has to complete development of a hybrid system for large vehicles.
John Mendel, American Honda Motor Co. executive vice president for auto sales, explained that the plan for Acura hybrids isn’t a new one and that it isn’t a result of losing the V-8 and rear-drive vehicles that had been promised to dealers at a national meeting two years ago.
Honda executives in Japan had an agreement to challenge top-tier luxury brands with V-8 and rear-drive models however; these plans were dropped due to the economic downturn that started in the fall of 2008.
Mendel did not provide further details but he did confirm that there will be more than one model getting a hybrid variant.
Source;
http://www.4wheelsnews.com/2011-tsx-will-be-the-first-hybrid-acura/
Detroit 2010: Honda CR-Z
After a few weeks worth of leaked images and brochure fluff, Honda has finally pulled the covers off its next new production hybrid hatchback. The Japanese automaker claims the CR-Z will bring back the kind of driving joy that hasn't been felt since the CRX last left dealer lots in 1991, saying that owners will embrace this new mild hybrid with both their hearts and minds. We certainly hope they're right.
While we're really digging the looks of the CR-Z and the way it hearkens back to the classic CRX and even the original Insight hybrid, we've gotta admit that we're a tad bit disappointed with the specifications. With 122 horsepower on tap and just 128 lb-ft of torque from the 1.5-liter VTEC four-cylinder with Integrated Motor Assist, shouldn't we expect more than 36 miles per gallon in the city and 38 on the highway from the CR-Z?
Let's just hope that the car's driving dynamics live up to the lofty standards to which Honda is eluding – at least there's an optional six-speed manual transmission to go along with the expected CVT automatic. We'll know soon enough know how it goes down the road, as the 2011 CR-Z is slated to hit the ground running in the summer. In the meantime, check out our live images below and click past the break for the press release.
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Honda Civic Canada’s top-selling car for 12th consecutive year
Honda Civic Is Canada's Top-Selling Car for a 12th Consecutive YearTORONTO, Jan. 6 /CNW/ - With sales of 62,654 units in 2009, Honda Civic retained its honour as Canada's top-selling passenger car for a 12th consecutive year. Since 1973, more than 1.5 million Honda Civics have been sold in Canada, making the Civic a leader in the Canadian automotive landscape.
"We thank the tens of thousands of Canadians who bought Honda Civic models in 2009 to make it Canada's top-selling car for the 12th year in a row." said Jerry Chenkin, executive vice president of Honda Canada Inc. "We thank these new car buyers for their vote of confidence in the Civic with its strong resale value, excellent fuel efficiency, class-leading standard safety features and fun-to-drive character."
"With the exception of the Civic Hybrid, all other Civic models that are sold in Canada are made right here in Canada. We are proud of our investment in Canada as a vehicle manufacturer. More than half of all the vehicles we sold in Canada in 2009 were built in Canada, including the Honda Civic and Acura MDX, CSX and the all-new ZDX."
Of the more than 5.3 million Honda and Acura vehicles that the Honda of Canada Mfg. assembly plant in Alliston, Ontario, has produced over the past 23 years, more than 3 million of those have been Honda Civic models.
Now in its 40th year of operation in Canada, Honda Canada builds the Honda Civic and Acura MDX, the all-new Acura ZDX and the Canadian-exclusive Acura CSX at its two plants in Alliston, Ontario, and produces 4-cylinder engines at an adjacent engine plant.
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