What a Tease…Honda Announces All-New 2012 CR-V on its U.S. Website

Honda is trying to build some suspense around its forthcoming, brand-new 2012 CR-V crossover by making an announcement on its U.S. market website. All we get for now is a picture of a tunnel and a press blurb that doesn’t really say much other than that Honda will be revealing the successor to the current CR-V bit by bit in the next few months. Read more »

Ford and Dodge Flop, Lexus and Honda Top JD Power’s 2011 U.S. Initial Quality Study

The results are in for JD Power’s latest 2011 U.S. Initial Quality study that looks at the first 90 days of ownership and the news is not good for Ford Motor Company. The Dearborn-based company tumbled from fifth place and highest-ranking non-luxury automaker last year to 23rd in 2011 with 116 problems per 100 vehicles. Analysts claim that Ford’s freefall is due to complaints related to the company’s onboard MyFord Touch infotainment systems.

Even worse, Dodge was placed last in the list with 137 problems per 100 cars. Scion, MINI, Volkswagen, Mitsubishi and Suzuki didn’t fare well either occupying the last places in the study.

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Honda CR-Z Mugen: All you Need to Know about Honda’s Hottest Hybrid Yet

We’ve already shared initial information and a video on the Mugen-fettled CR-Z that Honda is about to launch at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in July, but today, the Japanese carmaker came out with all the juicy details, as well as more photos of the sporty hybrid concept.

According to company’s European division, the CR-Z Mugen sets out to prove that hybrid cars can be exciting to drive, with the one-off special producing “Civic Type R-like performance” while also remaining true to the original, eco-friendly character of the run-of-the-mill CR-Z.

Colin Whittamore from Mugen Euro explains the philosophy behind the creation of the CR-Z Mugen:

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Honda Launches New Fit Shuttle Small MPV in Japan [ 46 Photos]

After briefly postponing the presentation of its all-new Fit Shuttle due to a variety of problems that arose from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, Honda on Thursday officially launched its mini MPV.

While keeping the five-seat layout of the regular Fit (called Jazz in Europe), the Shuttle is longer and taller, with the extra space benefiting both the rear passengers and the cargo area.

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Sticker Shock: U.S. Used Car Prices Soar as Nation Tackles Weak Economy and More

Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later. U.S. used car prices are up 30% over June 2010, in some cases besting Kelly Blue Book values by as much as 25%. Trade-ins are also up by 30% since this time last year.

A variety of factors, including an economy still reeling from the Global Financial Crisis, high gas prices and the Tōhoku earthquake, are thought to be responsible for the massive price rise.

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Mugen’s Supercharged Honda CR-Z Hybrid Prototype Debuts on Film

With development of the new Honda CR-Z Mugen concept nearing its end, the Japanese automaker decided it’s time to release the first video of the supercharged hybrid model on the road before its world premiere at the 2011 Goodwood Festival of Speed in July.

The prototype CR-Z is the collaborative work of Honda UK and its in-house tuning shop Mugen Euro. The hotted-up hybrid sports car feature modifications to the 1.5-liter i-VTEC petrol engine with the addition of a supercharger as well as to the Honda IMA system.

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Nissan Pays Top Execs Twice as Much as Toyota and Honda

Toyota’s executives must be green with envy once they hear the salaries of their counterparts in Nissan. That is because, Nissan’s top directors were paid more than twice as much for the fiscal year that ended last March than their equals at Toyota, according to a report from Bloomberg. And this despite the fact that Toyota is Japan’s biggest car manufacturer and Nissan is number two.

In a statement that Nissan issued before its annual meeting on June 29, average salary, including bonuses, for 14 executives was 126 million yen, or $ 1.6 million. In comparison, Toyota paid its 38 directors and auditors an average of about 41 million yen per executive.

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Honda CR-Z Hybrid Racer Ready for Demonstration Runs at Le Mans

The latest news from Honda’s motorsport front is that the Japanese company will campaign a CR-Z hybrid racecar at the second annual Le Mans Vers Le Futur (literally translates to ‘Le Mans to the Future’), which is a support event for the 79th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Nissan will also participate in the exhibition, which is devoted to showcasing the Le Mans racing cars of the future, with the pure-electric Leaf Nismo RC concept. Read more »

And the Unluckiest Car in Britain is…the Honda FR-V

Well, the question and the answer have already been given to you in the title, so let us elaborate for a moment. A UK-based car insurance price comparison website called “Confused.com” conducted a study to find out which vehicle make and model had the highest accident rates in Britain in the last five years. The company notes that the statistics you’re about to read show only a snapshot of accident-related claims made by owners of a particular make and model of vehicle.

According to the results, the Honda FR-V, a compact 6-seater minivan marketed in Europe and Japan from 2004 to 2009, topped the list with 2,529 owners of the model making 466 accident claims in the past five years, which is equal to a claim rate of 18.4 per cent, or close to one in five.

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Toyota Sales Plunge More than 33% in May, Chrysler Group up by 10%

The numbers for U.S. auto sales for the month of May are out and as expected, Japanese automakers continue to be hit hard by the ongoing production disruptions caused by the March 11 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster in their home market. As a result, Toyota’s sales plunged 33.4% over the year-ago month to 108,387 units, while rivaling Honda saw its sales fall 22.5% to 90,773 vehicles, Nissan recorded a 9.1% drop to 76,148 units and Mazda 17,875 vehicles, down 20.9%.

General Motors dealers in the United States delivered 221,192 vehicles in May posting a decline of 1%, while the Ford Motor Co. said its sales decreased by 0.1% to 192,253 cars, trucks and SUVs.

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Honda Patents New 2012 Civic Sedan and Coupe Designs in Europe

A peek through the European patent office files revealed images of Honda’s freshly launched in North America, 2012 Civic in both four-door sedan and two-door coupe guise. Given that the European market will get its own, bespoke version of the Civic, chances are that Honda simply wanted to cover its back like most of the competition just in case another automaker (we are looking towards you China) got any crazy ideas.

However, it is possible that Honda will offer the four-door saloon model in certain European countries to compete against the Volkswagen Jetta. With the exception of one version of the Civic sedan seen in this set of images and which features slightly modified taillights with additional strips that extend towards the license plate holder, there are no other differences compared to the North American Civic.

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Honda Canada Hacked: 250,000+ Customers Affected By Security Breach

Less than a month after Sony’s Playstation Network was compromised by hackers seeking personal information, a similar mishap has struck the Canadian arm of Honda / Acura. In a notice to its customers, the Japanese automaker revealed:

“The incident involved the unauthorized access of information as held in our records in 2009, specifically name, address, Vehicle Identification Number (VIN), and in a small number of cases, Honda Financial Services account numbers.”

It is believed that as many as 283,321 have been affected by the security breach. Honda Canada Executive VP Jerry Chenkin released a statement saying: “The information was limited and is not typically used for the purposes of identity theft or fraud. We would like to sincerely apologize to our Canadian customers for this incident. Honda and Acura are working diligently to protect our customers' personal information and improve our data security procedures on an ongoing basis.”

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Honda: US Output to Reach 100% by August for All Models Except the New 2012 Civic which will Remain at 50%

Following a recent announcement from Toyota predicting an increase in North American production this summer after the problems created by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, Honda today said that its North American factories would return to near-normal production for all vehicles except the new 2012 Civic by this August. Read more »

Hyundai Set to Become Sixth Biggest Automaker in the U.S. In 2011

In the realm of U.S. automotive sales, 8% is a magic number. When an automaker hits 8%, they know they’ve become one of the big guns. Ford, Chevrolet, Toyota, Honda, Dodge and Nissan have all made it, and 2011 is expected to be Hyundai’s year.

So sayeth market research firm Polk, and I’m tempted to agree. Hyundai and its partner-brand / internal rival Kia have steadily been evolving into truly world-class carmakers. They’re keenly priced, inoffensive to look at and comprehensively covered quality-wise – everything the vast majority of new car buyers want in this day and age.

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Hilarious Honda Malaysia Ad Mocks Independent Service Centers

As car owners, most of us have had bad experiences with auto service stations, either official or independent. Of course, carmakers don't like competition from independent units, so here's what Honda of Malaysia thinks of these stations. In a commercial for the local market, Honda mocks an independent garage called “HONDI” which, as you may have already assumed, offers bad service for big bucks.

A beautiful young woman, owner of a Honda Civic, is shown taking her car to the Hondi service center, where all sorts of strange things happen, with the personnel doing a crappy job while singing their own version of the famous “YMCA” song. If only service stations were such a blast... Follow the jump to watch the ad.

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Honda civic 2012

Not much else is known about the car but there are rumors that a new three-cylinder engine option will join the four-cylinder range. There’s also word that the hybrid system from the recently revealed CR-Z Hybrid will make it into the new Honda Civic.As for the local version of the Civic, not much is known but an all-new model is expected to debut around the late 2011-early 2012 mark as well.

Overseas, the Honda Civic is a rakish hatchback available in three- and five-door bodystyles, as well as a high-performance Type R variant with more than 180 horsepower on tap. The vehicle seen in these latest spy shots depict this ‘global’ Civic, although its modified state suggests it is in fact a test-mule for the next-generation model due in late 2011 as a 2012.The latest images depict a car much closer to the final stages of design, without cabling and wires sticking out at odd places. Instead, it’s a sleek hatchback with fairly generous side cladding to hide the flares and character lines that no doubt run the length of the car. The overall size appears to be slightly wider and longer than the current Civic, meaning interior space should grow accordingly.
The earlier test-mule was wearing the new model’s bumpers and features an elevated hood, either to fit a new engine or test equipment. The wheelbase looks to be the same, although we can clearly see that the rear fenders are slightly wider than on the current car.

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