The all-new 2010 Honda Accord Crosstour evolves the Crossover Utility Vehicle
(CUV) concept by integrating a sleek and aerodynamic shape that blends sporty,
low-profile contours with versatile CUV functionality, American Honda Motor Co.,
Inc., announced today.

“Our concept is to broaden the appeal of the Accord line-up by leveraging
traditional Accord strengths of fun-to-drive performance and handling while also
adapting to dramatic shifts in the light truck marketplace,” said Erik Berkman,
vice president of American Honda Motor Co., Inc. “The Accord Crosstour
accomplishes that by offering a modern interpretation of a CUV while integrating
the refinement and efficiency of a premium sedan.”

Derived from the Accord Sedan, the Accord Crosstour maximizes car-like ride and
refinement, yet maintains capabilities consistent with a CUV`s increased ride
height and all-weather potential. The Accord Crosstour`s styling builds on the
Accord`s familiar character lines and adds a bolder front grille complemented by
a durable lower-body appearance, wedge-shaped C-pillars and an aggressive rear
stance. The flowing roofline narrows smoothly into the rear of the vehicle to
create an aggressive-looking design, which conceals a unique cargo area that can
adapt to large objects that exceed the capacity of a sedan.

“We know SUV buyers like the commanding view of the road that comes with a high
eye-point and like the comforts of living with an SUV,” said Berkman. “This
vehicle meets the needs of buyers looking for those attributes yet at the same
time want an image that is different from a conventional SUV.”

The Accord Crosstour will be positioned at the top of the Accord family when it
goes on sale in fall 2009. Additional details will be announced later in the
year. Consumer information is available at automobiles.honda.com/future-cars. An
Accord Crosstour Facebook page is available at www.facebook.com/accordcrosstour.
Additional media information regarding all Honda products is available at
www.hondanews.com.

Honda plans to produce Smaller car below Honda Jazz/Fit as A-segment category to hit small car market.Unknown Small car is 2 CV Codename will be built at India and Thailand early 2012,Especially Thailand entry to ECO-CAR Project get 17% tax priced.

The 2CV  would be the first model from Honda that will be developed with India as a lead market. While Japan was the lead market for the Jazz, US was the lead market for the Accord and Civic and Thailand for City.

Honda will launch CRV (2WL Codename) in November 2009 ,Improved ront grille.

P.T. Honda Prospect Motor, Honda’s automobile manufacturing and sales joint venture in Indonesia, announced plans to produce and sell the Freed model in Indonesia, starting June 2009. In addition, exports to multiple countries in the Southeast Asia region are scheduled to begin before the end of this year. Indonesia will be the first country in regions outside Japan where the Freed will be produced and sold.

In Indonesia, demand for multi-passenger vehicles, categorized as “Multi Purpose Vehicle (MPV),” is high and increasing to the point where it accounts for approximately 40% of total auto sales in that country*1. With the Freed, Honda will propose a new value of “comfortable and stylish minivan” targeting the “new family” demographic in urban areas.

The Freed is a new compact minivan which fuses an easy-to-maneuver compact body size, spacious cabin which comfortably seats adults in all three rows, and stylish design. Since its introduction in May 2008, sales of the Freed in Japan has been very strong, with cumulative sales during the second half of calendar year 2008 (July – December 2008) ranking number one in the minivan category*2 in Japan.

Based on Honda’s long-standing commitment to “build products close to the customer,” Honda has been establishing a complementary regional supply system for parts and finished vehicles while leveraging unique characteristics and advantages of each market. In the case of the Freed, parts and components will be procured in multiple countries, mostly in the ASEAN region including Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines, to enhance the competitive advantage of the product. Honda will accelerate an effort to further strengthen its business foundation and continue providing products beyond customers’ expectations in Indonesia and other markets in Asia where long-term growth is expected.

*1 In 2008, industry-wide MPV (excluding hatchback type) sales in Indonesia was 231,000 units, whereas overall automobile sales was 608,000 units.
*2 Minivan category means vehicles with three rows of seats.

Honda’s much-anticipated Prius fighter may double as a recession fighter.

The Japanese automaker said today that when the 2010 Honda Insight hybrid hits dealer lots in two weeks, it will carry a base price of $19,800. That puts an end to months of speculation over just how much less expensive the new Honda would be than the Toyota Prius, currently the top-selling hybrid in the U.S.

At under twenty grand, the Insight will be the least expensive new hybrid available in the country; even the more feature-laden EX version of the Insight, which includes alloy wheels and paddle shifters, will be under the Prius’ $22,000 starting sticker. By pricing it so low — almost $4,000 less than its own Civic hybrid — yet delivering a car that looks and behaves remarkably similar to the current Prius, Honda is making a risky bet that cost-conscious consumers will be lured to choose its hybrids over non-hybrid alternatives. Meanwhile, with a new far more fuel-efficient 2010 Prius set to hit showrooms in June, the Insight could lose out on buyers who care more about green (as in ecology) than green (as in dough).

Honda apparently has its eyes trained on a broader swath of customers. The Insight, said Dick Colliver, executive vice president for Honda’s U.S. sales arm, “brings the cost of entry for hybrid technology within closer reach of an entirely new car-shopping audience.” The automaker hopes people who otherwise wouldn’t have considered a hybrid will choose the Insight because it’s cheaper to buy and operate than comparable vehicles.

The Insight first went on sale in Japan last month, where it sells for 1.89 million yen ($19,260). So far, 18,000 have been ordered, according to Honda, and 4,906 were sold and registered in February, making it the top-selling hybrid in Japan for the month. The company has said it hopes to sell 200,000 of the vehicles globally each year, with about 90,000 selling in the U.S. during the first 12 months of sales. By comparison, Toyota sold 241,405 of the Prius models in the U.S. last year.

The down economy could put a dent in Honda’s sales plans, however. The value of used hybrids, an important indicator of demand for the vehicles, has slumped considerably as consumers turn to cheaper options. According to research firm Kelley Blue Book, used hybrid prices are down about 25% since last summer, more than any other category of vehicle, and fell 2.5% in February alone.

And while the Insight measures up pretty well against the Prius and even more expensive hybrids on cost, it still is quite a bit higher than fairly efficient non-hybrid competitors such as the Toyota Yaris ($12,205 starting price) and Nissan Versa ($9,990).

That’s a particularly sensitive point considering the relatively low price of gasoline of late. “Demand for fuel efficient vehicles has dropped significantly as more and more consumers base their purchase decision on vehicle transaction price as opposed to fuel economy,” said Juan Flores, director of vehicle valuation at Kelley Blue Book.

When gas is costly, hybrids can more easily justify their cost differential in gas savings. But with the national average for a gallon of go juice at $1.94 (down from over $4 last summer), that savings payoff take a lot longer.

The Nissan Versa, for example, gets 27 mpg in city driving and 33 mpg on the highway, and it costs $9,810 less than the Insight. At current gas price levels, according to one of the niftiest of the many nifty hybrid cost calculators available online, the Honda Insight, which gets 40 mpg city and 43 highway, would save drivers about $315 a year compared to the Versa based on normal driving. That means it will pay for itself in a mere 31 years, or about three times the expected life of the vehicle.

Consumers clearly don’t base all their car-buying decisions on price alone. If they did, it would be Kia, not Toyota, atop the global sales heap, and BMW and Mercedes-Benz wouldn’t have a leg to stand on.

Still, by framing the Insight’s marketing around rational price concerns rather than emotional hot buttons like saving the planet — while at the same time not making the vehicle as efficient as the 2009 Prius (48 city/45 highway/46 combined), much less the upcoming 2010 Prius (Toyota said it will get 50 mpg combined) — Honda seems to be locking its new vehicle into a mathematical computation it can never win.

- HONDA MOTOR CO. (TSE:7267) announced Wednesday that by the end of January it had sold more than 300,000 hybrid vehicles worldwide, reaching the milestone less than 10 years after introducing its Insight hybrid domestically in November 1999. The automaker reported that cumulative worldwide sales of hybrid vehicles stood at 300,740 as of January 31.

* In addition to the Insight, it also sells hybrid versions of its Civic and Accord.

* The Civic Hybrid has been the best seller, with sales totaling 255,249 vehicles.

It’s no secret that Honda is planning to follow its new Insight up with a production version of the CRX-like CR-Z two-seat hybrid. But thanks to a very well informed source, we’ve got a few new, never-before-released details about the car.

First, the production version of the CR-Z will make its debut at the Tokyo Motor Show this November and go on sale in Japan in December.

Got that helmet ready? ‘Cause here comes the mind-blowing part.

What’s got us both excited and curious is news that Honda is planning to make a CR-Z Type R. You read that correctly: a Type R hybrid.

The only thing we know about the CR-Z Type R is that it is supposed to launch in 2010. Unfortunately, this source can’t give us any details about just what will transform this standard CR-Z into a Type R. Will it be nothing more than a two-seat version of the Mugen Insight, meaning just a car with a functional aero kit and some wheels?

Back in February of 2008, Honda’s UK manager for product planning, Mark Turner, said development of the CR-Z was underway at Honda’s R&D facility in Germany and that a strictly gasoline-powered version could make it to market if there was suitable demand. Fast-forward to today, and a new report claims Honda could be developing a CR-Z Type-R rumored to launch in Japan sometime next year.

At this point, Honda refuses to confirm or deny the existence of a Type-R version of the CR-Z, and there’s plenty of speculation about what could power the new hot hatch. Honda could take a play from the Accord Hybrid and boost the stock CR-Z’s gasoline-electric drivetrain, or, if Turner’s mention of a gasoline-only model is to be believed, fit the CR-Z Type-R with a revised version of Honda’s K20 inline-four.

Either way, expect the production version of the Honda CR-Z to debut at this year’s Tokyo Motor Show and keep your fingers crossed that a Type-R variant gets some space on the stage.

Honda Insight Hybrid makes EU debut
· New Accord 180 PS Diesel Type-S
· Honda S2000 Ultimate Edition
· CR-Z Sports Hybrid Concept and FCX Clarity Show Honda’s Future

February 5, 2009 – ASIMO, Honda’s advanced humanoid robot, will help launch the all new Insight Hybrid at the 2009 Geneva Motor Show.

The new Insight, which will makes its European debut at the Show, has been designed to offer a practical five-seat family car at an affordable price with excellent fuel economy and low CO2 and other emissions.

Honda’s latest hybrid vehicle revives the Insight nameplate which was first used in 1999. It also marks a return for Honda to producing hybrids in a dedicated aerodynamic body, designed to optimize the performance of the efficient petrol-electric hybrid drivetrain.

The Insight combines an optimised 1.3 liter i-VTEC engine with a compact thin electric motor. This electric motor gives the engine assistance when increased performance is required and acts as a generator during deceleration and braking. It also allows electric only operation in some slow and medium speed conditions.

The Insight has been designed to give good real world emission and fuel economy figures. Its key element is the Eco Assist system that is fitted as standard. The upper instrument cluster where the speedometer is sited, features a color changing ambient light that illuminates green when driving ecologically, blue/green when the car is being driven acceptably and blue when driving with less regard for economy.

The ambient lighting of the speedometer combines with a bar diagram which is more than a simple instantaneous economy meter. The display in the center of the rev counter shows how aggressively the driver is accelerating or braking and encourages the driver to stay towards the middle with lighter more progressive use of the brake and accelerator pedals.

To chart progress, during each journey leaves will appear on the bare stems of the plant icons on the center meter if the driver is matching the ecological driving conditions ideal. Should their driving go outside of these parameters for a length of time then the plants will wilt. At the end of each journey the driver is given a score which they can build up over time and gradually they will be rewarded with trophy symbols for continued good driving.

The Insight has been designed to offer a practical family car at an affordable price with excellent fuel economy and low CO2 and other emissions. The Insight gives seating for five and a boot capacity of 408 liters with the seats up. The repackaging of the IPU and batteries means the Insight has seats which fold almost flat, increasing the boot capacity to 1017 liters*.

The practical interior is complimented by an attractively styled and aerodynamically profiled body, which helps the Insight to achieve 101 g/km CO2 emissions and 4.4l/100km fuel consumption under the EU combined test procedures.

The Insight will go on sale in Europe from the end of March 2009 and pricing information will be announced at the time of the Geneva Motor Show.

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HONDA AT THE GENEVA MOTOR SHOW

* Powerful Type S joins Accord line-up
* All-new Insight hybrid makes European debut at Geneva
* Special edition S2000 unveiled to mark the end of production
* ASIMO, CR-Z concept and FCX Clarity on stand

A higher-powered, sportier Accord Type S will be unveiled at the 2009 Geneva Motor Show in March.

This more powerful variant of Honda’s D-sector model uses the acclaimed 2.2-litre i-DTEC diesel engine, like the standard Accord, but thanks to a revised turbo-charger, cylinder head and larger intercooler, produces 180PS at 4000rpm, a 30PS increase on the standard model with the peak power coming at the same rpm. Torque has also increased 30Nm to 380Nm at 2000rpm.

“The 180PS diesel model will be a welcome addition to the Accord range, especially for company car drivers that want a high-specification car in an even sportier package,” said Graham Avent, Manager – Corporate Operations, Honda (UK). “This model will undoubtedly appeal to high-performance diesel enthusiasts, looking for that something extra, but we hope it will also create a halo-effect across the diesel Accord range.”

As well as a significant increase in power, the Type S sits on a new design of 18-inch alloy wheels and gains clear indicator covers, a Type S badge plus two new paint colours – Premium White Pearl and Basque Red.

The Type S will be available in either saloon or Tourer bodyshapes with manual transmission.

Performance, fuel economy and emissions data will be available once homologation is completed, and pricing will be announced nearer the on sale date later this year.

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