Suzuki Motor Corporation is pleased to announce that the Japan Industrial Design Promotion Organization has selected the Wagon R minivehicle series for a 2008 Good Design Award* and the Jimny four-wheel-drive (4WD) minivehicle for a 2008 Long-Selling Good Design Award.

The judging committee said: “The latest design of Wagon R series inherits the boxy looks and good space utility that characterized the original model. Features including a distinctive headlamp shape and handsome grilles give a sense of the future. The look, which emphasizes movement without compromising roominess, inspires a certainty that it’s the form that small cars will take in the future. The cabin, which reflects efforts toward user-friendliness and economy, is also praiseworthy.”

The Long-Selling Good Design Award conferred on the Jimny is a special award intended to honour and highlight products that not only enjoy long-lasting popularity but also continue to inspire fresh thinking about manufacturing and lifestyles. Many recipients have been manufactured and marketed in accordance with their original product concepts for 10 or more years.

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Honda Motor Co. will spend 485 million dollars to build a new factory complex in Japan to produce small vehicles as consumers are shifting to less fuel-hungry models, a report said Sunday.

The carmaker will build the complex in the western city of Yokkaichi at a cost of some 50 billion yen (485 million dollars), the Nikkei economic daily said without naming sources.

Honda plans to start operating an engine factory in 2009 and assembly lines around 2010 with an annual output capacity of 240,000 vehicles, it said.

The facilities will be located at a site next to the factory run by small vehicle production subsidiary Yachiyo Industry Co., which will manage the new complex as well, the daily said.

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