Honda of Today and Tomorrow

[xcel]

Honda’s President & CEO, Takanobu Ito, speech regarding the current and future state of the company.

Wayne Gerdes - CleanMPG - Sept. 22, 2012

The new $21,650 to start 2013 Honda Accord is smaller, far better looking and finally competitively fuel efficient. And the upcoming PHEV and HEV are no slouches either!

The Ninth-generation all-new 2013 Honda Accord achieves a 27/36 mpgUS city/highway rating while bringing new technologies to the forefront. One of those is its lane watch system featuring a camera under the passenger side window that displays the cars blind spots onto the 8 in center stack screen!

State of Honda

In a Honda release yesterday, Honda’s President & CEO Takanobu Ito outlined the company's global and regional business goals in a mid-year speech in Japan. In it, there were some surprises some here will find “most interesting”

On a global basis, Honda expects sell 25 million motorcycles, 8 million power equipment products and 6 million automobiles.

North America Automobile Business

Within two years after the initial global market introduction of the all-new 2014 Honda Fit, Honda will roll-out Fit, City and a new compact SUV models across the globe. Honda will begin producing Fit and a derivative model at the new plant in Mexico that will become operational in spring 2014.

The production model of the all-new Acura RLX sedan will debut at the 2012 Los Angeles Auto Show on November 28, 2012.

FCV (Fuel Cell Vehicle)

Honda will launch an all-new FCV in the U.S., Japan and Europe starting in 2015. This new fuel cell vehicle will showcase further technological advancement and significant cost reduction that Honda has accomplished.

Hybrids

Honda will further advance its "Earth Dreams Technology" in the coming years, with the introduction of three new hybrid systems based on one-motor, two-motor and three-motor hybrid configurations.

• One-motor: a lightweight and compact one-motor hybrid system will deliver expanded EV driving range through the improvement of motor output and battery performance as well as the combination with a newly-developed transmission. Honda will strive to achieve number one fuel economy among all hybrid vehicles by improving the efficiency of regenerative energy recovery.
  
  What we have been possibly waiting for over a decade, a new clutched IMA-V possibly?
  
  
• Two-motor: following the U.S. introduction of the Accord Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) in early 2013, the two-motor hybrid Accord will be first introduced in the U.S., followed by Japan and other regions.
  
  That is the one we are really waiting for and praying it is not mated to the FSP 3.5L this time around?
  
  
• Three-motor: as previously announced, the Sport Hybrid SH-AWD (Super Handling All Wheel Drive) system, a highly efficient and high-output three-motor hybrid system, will be applied to the Acura RLX Sport Hybrid model and the Acura NSX to realize both a high level of sporty handling and fuel economy.

Regional Product Development

Honda will pursue "concurrent development in all six regions," where each region participates in product development concurrently and at the same level from the early stage of the development. Introducing the same model in all regions within a short period of time allows Honda to achieve adequate production volume on a global basis from an earlier stage of the product introduction, while significantly reducing the cost of parts sourcing.

Last month, Honda announced that the company's U.S. R&D operations will lead development of the North American version of the next generation Honda Civic. Imagine that

[Carcus]

I like what they're doing with the cr-z. More power, more torque, better looks.

A lot of tech and style for the money, imo.

[herm]

Originally Posted by xcel

What we have been possibly waiting for over a decade, a new clutched IMA-V possibly?

Two clutches maybe?.. one to drive the wheels and the other to start the engine?.. probably too much to ask for.

Three motors means three inverters.. $$$, I would like to see a single motor system in the rear wheels for 4-wheel drive fans, conventional setup in the front and a flat floor plan with bench seats both in the front and rear. Heck put that system in the cheap Civics also.

[EdwinTheMagnificent]

Yeah. How did I ever get along with bucket seats in my Civics ? If I had a nice,flat bench , I could fit two ten-year-olds in front with me. And no uncomfortable side bolsters, either. Who needs them when your maximum lateral acceleration is .05 G ?

[Indigo]

I am glad that Honda is going to improve IMA functionality. My only gripe with my Insight II is that the car can't disengage the ICE from the transmission when it is operating on battery alone.

[psyshack]

I test drove a new Accord EX, I4 this afternoon. I didn't drive it hard or hypermile it. Just put 10 miles on it in rush hour and a short interstate stint.

The cars I looked at today really looked good inside and out. Fit, Finish and Material quality seamed to pick right up where the wonderful 7th gen left off. ( Trading our 7th gen was a big mistake. ) The car is very pleasant looking inside and out. There isn't one bad line or curve in the body styling. It's fantastic! The cabin is a bit on the busy side and the dash is a tad porky. But well laid out and functional. There is to much fake chrome bling. But I'm sure it attracts customers like lures attract fish. And I'm sure it will be one of those things like a fish hitting a lure. You will wish you could spit it out. Followed by a Homer like DOH!

The engine appears to be a work of art! Like a R18 on roids. And if you didn't know any better you would think it's a R18. It was very smooth and quite as a church mouse. Throttle tip in seemed to be on the aggressive side. Reminded me of my fathers 4th gen Accord. I figure it was tuned like this to make folks try and forget about the NEW cvt. And while the newest, latest, greatest CVT is a better than the one in our Civic. It's still a CVT and only good for Honda and a cheap way for them to make very small gains in mpg. Only good for steady, low load cursing. And please understand I did not rop on the throttle in this car or go for all out mpg and the dealer would not let me install my SGII. While it did not wrap up like say our HCHII. If you goosed it at a light. It was very clear that it was not tuned to ride the tq curve. But still splitting hairs between the HP and TQ curves. And far better than Nissan's CVT's. While Nissan's pull good. They tend to over run when you let off the throttle. Honda has never had that issue.

To Honda's credit the road noise seemed to be down a tad. It's ride was good and the seats seemed comphy. And seemed much like the seats out of a 8th gen Accord. Much better than the seats in our 7th gen Accord or any other Honda I've ever driven or ridden in. Including the over priced Acuras. I did throw the car into some 30 mph and under hard left and right turns. And it failed. This is because Honda in there great wisdom threw out there wonderful front suspension for off the shelf strut junk. If I threw it into a hard right hand turn at 20 to 25 mph the front left would dive down like a drunk sailor passing out on his feet and the right rear would lift like a mad cop yanking the drunk sailor off his feet. Transition was awful and no where near as good as a 7th gen or even a porkulas 8th gen. While my gut tells me the new junk front strut system has a lot to do with road noise and the slight improvement of such. It's come at the cost of junking out a hallmark accord feature. A class leading feature!

There is a lot to like about the new Accord. But I won't be buying one. There official line is we put junk suspension in the front to save weight/mpg. We put our best foot forward with the CVT for mpg. But the fact is 95% of the mpg came from the new engine. The rest was done to save them money on the bottom line, improve gross margins. And they know American consumers are stupid and haven't a clue what there giving up. Esp. if the consumer is a first time Accord buyer. And while one can get a 6mt in the so called sport version. I don't think it will have a LSD and it will still have the Civicish front strut suspension.

Sorry Honda,,, You are ruining your cars just like you did your motorcycles ooo so many years ago. You are not a leader anymore. And thus Honda will not be getting any of my money.....

[Harold]

Good report psy, I liked it and believe what you say. I think you are bang on re. Honda's path! H

[PaleMelanesian]

It's still a Cvt ... Only good for steady, low load cursing.

I think that last word is a typo, but I like it better this way.

[psyshack]

Originally Posted by PaleMelanesian

I think that last word is a typo, but I like it better this way.

I was wondering who would catch that.

[msirach]

Sales must be poor for Honda. I got a flyer in the mail today with some deep discounts on new 2012 models.

Crosstour $35,708 Discount $6508 Price $29,200
Accord EXL$30,858 Discount $5658 Price $25,200
Accord LX $23,408 Discount $4008 Price $19,400
Civic LX $19,933 Discount $2433 Price $17,500

This was only a few on the list.