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Honda FC Sport compared to Tesla Roadster and FCX Clarity

Now we have three special cars here which are Honda FC Sport, BRABUS Tesla Roadster and the FCX Clarity, the question is “What ones wins hands down when it comes to design? Take a little look at the pictures below to see what you think. Read more

Honda FC Sport Concept debuts at LA Auto Show 2008

Honda like many of the other auto makers across the globe was showing off some of their latest vehicles at the LA Auto Show 2008. Many of the cars on show were concept cars, so Honda thought they would step up to the plate and show of their Honda FC Sport Concept. Read more

Acura the first to get a Honda V8 engine

There is no denying that Honda engines have always been just that little bit special, this is because they have refused to conform to the standard of engine design. For years the Honda powerplant has rotated in the opposite direction to the rest of the market, just like their motorcycles do. Read more

New Honda Insight: cheapest hybrid car to battle Toyota Prius

Honda has launched the world’s cheapest hybrid car, the Insight. Honda hopes that the cheap price will be enough to win motorists because of the high price of fuel. Honda hopes to sell the new insight between £13,000 and £15,000. This will undercut the Toyota Prius by £3,000.

Honda expects to sell about 200,000 Insights a year around the world; this is a lot more than the 280,000 that they sold over ten years. The new model will be unveiled officially at next month’s Paris motor show.

The five door family hatchback should be able to deliver 60 miles to the gallon. The new Honda Insight will go on sale around the world in the spring and forms part of the four new hybrid cars from Honda.

Source – The Telegraph

2009 Honda Fit gets a price

Japan’s popular subcompact car, the Honda Fit was launched last October but they have now announced an updated version that will be available in Canada as a 2009 model. The launch date that Honda gave was September 15.

The updated model has had the width, the overall length and the wheelbase increased, which has given passengers more space. They have also increased the maximum cargo capacity to 1622 litres, which is up from the previous 1186 litres. And I know how handy a little extra space can help for all those shopping trips.

Because the Honda Fit has gained a little extra weight, the engineers have grafted a brand-new 1.5-litre i-VTEC engine. You have the choice of either a 5 speed automatic or manual transmission that produces 117hp.

There will be four versions available, the Sport at $19,280, the LX at $17,380, the DX-A at $16,280 and the DX at $14,980. You can also check out all our auto news here.

Source: Read

Toyota Profit hits five year low: Down 28 percent

Toyota Motor Corp. has seen a huge drop in their profit, the biggest in five years. The world’s second-largest carmaker has blamed poor sales of sport-utility vehicles and trucks, due to high fuel prices.

Toyota has reported that their net income has fallen by 28 percent to 353.7 billion yen or $3.2 billion, shares are now just 112.28 yen a share. The year earlier net income was 491.5 billion yen, or 153.89 yen per share.

According to Bloomberg, Toyota’s operating profit in North America feel by 57 percent, as we mentioned it is the sale of larger vehicles that have seen the biggest drop. Katsuaki Watanabe, President of Toyota Motor Corp. has had to halt the production of Tundra pickups and Sequoia SUVs for three months as a result of high oil prices.

Toyota has always been known for their larger vehicles, where Honda seems to produce smaller and fuel-efficient cars. This has seen an 8.1 percent gain for the automaker.

It is not just Toyota who is being hit with huge profit losses; Ford and GM are two more to add to that list. Automakers are now facing a fork in the road; they now have some tough decisions to make. One thing is certain; they will all have to think about producing smaller fuel-efficient cars.

Honda to mass produce and lease FCX Clarity fuel-cell car

Honda have announced that they are to mass produce their FCX Clarity fuel-cell car, they hope to be able to do this within the next ten years. Honda, who are Japans second largest automaker after Toyota, are looking for ways to meet public demand for more fuel efficient car models, and they might just have the answer with the Honda FCX Clarity.

Honda President Takeo Fukui, has said “If we can bring costs down by a certain amount, I think we can start mass-production.” Honda have now started production of these more environmentally friendly cars today, and hope to be able to lease at least 200 of these FCX Clarity’s vehicles in the US and Japan over the next three years. Honda already have five customers for these new vehicles in the US.
According to Bloomberg, the Honda FCX Clarity will be available in California, US, in the beginning of July as they already have plans for a range of hydrogen fueling stations across the state. This new Honda has a top speed of 105 miles per hours, which is more than fast enough, well we are not meant to drive that fast anyway.

Honda along with a number of other major automakers are now adding a number of new low-pollution models to their car range, like fuel-cell and gasoline-electric hybrids. These hybrids had a slow start as the public did not know much about this new kind of technology. However; as the price of oil is increasing almost everyday, hybrid cars is a technology that is growing fast and this technology will only get better.

Honda develops device to help the disabled and elderly walk

When it comes to developing cars Honda are one of the best in the business however; the Japanese automaker also develops other things like a jet as well as that cool looking walking robot called Asimo. Getting Asimo walking on its own was a hard but worthwhile task and Honda are about to put that kind of technology to good use.

Honda will be taking some of its robotic technology to the International Trade Fair where they will showcase the technology that they used for the robot to walk unaided and will offer it as a unique aid to help the disabled and elderly walk. These devices will be available in three sizes and will use brushless DC motors which are powered by lithium ion batteries. These batteries will allow you to use the device for about 2 hours between charges.

Auto Companies such as Honda do take a lot of criticism from tree huggers who do not like how some of their cars pollute our earth; however they do not think about all the good work that they do to help how we live our lives. What I would like to know is would a person who works for someone like Greenpeace turn one of these walking devices down if they had trouble walking, knowing that it has been developed with money from and auto maker.

Source - AutoBlog

First Drive of the 2009 Honda Pilot CUV

Back in January Honda decided to show off a concept of their 2009 Honda Pilot at the Detroit Auto Show; however it seemed as many of the people who visited the Honda stand were a little under whelmed. This is the second generation Pilot, and Honda wanted to try and keep a utilitarian look with this crossover. The problem that Honda faced was trying to create a larger interior; however what that means is you are left with a boxy exterior look.

The 2009 Honda Pilot is not the best CUV on the market so the Mazda CX-9 and the Buick Enclave will not have to worry too much. When you jump into the interior of the Pilot, it is like climbing inside a greenhouse and start driving that around. Ok sorry I am being a little nasty there; the 2009 Honda Pilot is more like a barn. This crossover is not all bad though, the road noise in the vehicle is quieter than the previous model this is thanks to the more aerodynamic styling.

The new model comes with a 3.5-liter V6 engine this power plant pushes out 250HP, and although not much across the entire range fuel economy is up by 1MPG. The acceleration is faster than what you expect; however there are many other crossovers that perform much better like the Audi Q7 TDI 4.2. However, the 2009 Honda Pilot is more of a particle CUV.

The 2009 Honda Pilot CUV will not set your world alight, but Honda have built this crossover to do what it has been built for, and that is for moving a whole bunch of people around and feel comfortable thanks to the amount of room that you have. Although the new Pilot is nothing special, you can upgrade to the Touring trim level. This is more of an expensive model, but it is worth paying the extra and it is almost on par with the Acura.

Source - AutoBlog