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Civic Type R hatchback to be discontinued in Europe!

August 11, 2010 at 9:49 am By Harvinder Sidhu Filed Under Cars, Honda, International News

It looks like the Civic Type R Euro hatchback will follow the path of its larger sibling the FD2 Type R Sedan – Honda has decided to discontinue it in Europe. It will not be phased out altogether though, as Honda will continue to sell it in certain European markets as well as some markets outside Europe such as Japan.

It will disappear from most of its core European markets thanks to the car’s high-revving 2.0 litre engine not being able to keep up with rising emissions regulations, with the most recent being Euro 5. Honda should just switch to a smaller turbocharged engine to keep up with the times. Perhaps it will finally do so with the next generation of Civic Type R, which should be hitting the news in perhaps 2 years.

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Honda launching a plug-in hybrid in 2012

July 21, 2010 at 8:30 pm By Jacob Alexander Filed Under Honda, Hybrids and Alternative Fuel, International News

Honda have confirmed it will go the way of its top competitor Toyota and launch a plug-in hybrid and a battery electric model for the US and Japanese market. Speaking at a news conference in Japan, CEO Takanobu Ito stated the models will be seen sometime in 2012.

They expect the new plug-in hybrid to go slightly more than 60km on a single litre of petrol making it more fuel efficient than the current Prius according to reports from Nikkei. This is of course a sort of grey area as so far we’re can universally only state mileage claims based on a formula that uses a single source of liquid fuel. The results of a hybrid vehicle can go way off especially if its a plug-in.

Along with the Insight, the company is also looking two other hybrid models for the US market expanding its hybrid line up to around five by 2013 according to the Japanese publication. This is quite a sudden turn of events for Honda, as they have previously been against the development of electric cars focusing mainly on hydrogen fuelled variants due to the fact that batteries were too expensive to be practical. Seems that the only reason they will be selling battery run electric cars is to meet US legal requirements in California.

Toyota was on the same bandwagon of EV sceptics, but have now changed their plans with its partnership with Tesla and the development of a prototype electric vehicle based on the Toyota RAV4 and Lexus RX.

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Honda Civic 1.8S-L launched – new variant blends 1.8-litre economy with 2.0-litre luxuries

July 15, 2010 at 5:34 pm By Jacob Alexander Filed Under Cars, Honda, Local News

There’s a new variant of the 8th generation Honda Civic in town – the Civic 1.8S-L, which sits between the 1.8S and the 2.0S. Think of it as the Civic equivalent of the Accord 2.0 VTi-L; you can opt for the smaller engine and get some of the big engined car’s luxuries.

The 1.8S-L is priced at RM119,980 (OTR with insurance), which is RM5,000 more costly than the 1.8S. For that premium, you get cruise control, audio and cruise buttons on the steering wheel, door mirrors with side signals, a sliver panel surrounding the meter, chrome outer door handles and leather seats.

All these kit were previously only available on the 2.0S, which costs RM130,980. Things like 17-inch alloys, blue ambient lighting, shift paddles and side airbags remain exclusive to the 2.0-litre car. With this new variant, Honda Malaysia has targeted a 750-unit monthly sales target for the Civic, with 30% of buyers expected to opt for the 1.8S-L.

Pictures after the jump.
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Honda HSV-010 GT – NSX replacement off to a great start!

June 30, 2010 at 11:44 pm By Danny Tan Filed Under Cars, Honda, Local News, Motorsports

There’s a new beauty queen in the Super GT paddock (of the metal variety, for the race queens click here), and it’s Honda’s new HSV-010 GT race car. The Nissan GT-R looks, well, like a GT-R, while the Lexus SC just looks old (Toyota, it’s time to replace it with the LFA!). In contrast, Honda’s replacement for the long-serving NSX looks fit and beautifully proportioned with the classic short tail, long hood shape. It’s also quite “realistic” without looking too wide bodied or cartoonish. Seeing in in the metal for the first time in Sepang got us thinking what might have been had Honda not canned the NSX project…

That leads to the question: Isn’t Super GT only for production cars? Honda managed to find a loophole that permits cars that are “production ready”, and the “new NSX” was very ready before it was given the red light. And how can Japan’s top racing series not have Honda in it? Unthinkable!

The change from NSX to HSV is almost enforced on Honda, as the former, being a midship design, no longer meet regulations that require an FR setup (front engined, rear driven). The HSV has performed pretty well so far, when you take into account that it’s Honda’s first ever FR car competing in its maiden season.

There are five teams running the HSV-010 and they are Keihin Real Racing, Team Kunimitsu (Raybrig), Epson Nakajima, Autobacs Racing Team Aguri (ARTA) and Weider. The latter finished third in Sepang with drivers Takashi Kogure and Frenchman Loic Duval. The HSV-010 won its first ever Super GT race in Round 3 at Okayama, thanks to the Weider team. The other podium came in the first race at Suzuka, where the Raybrig HSV came in third.

Of the four rounds so far, it was only at Fuji Speedway that the “over 500 PS” 3.4-litre V8 powered Honda didn’t make the podium (Keihin HSV was best at fifth). Now, Fuji is a high-speed track, and it’s well known in the paddock that the HSV has too much downforce and drag to excel at faster circuits, a fact that Andre Lotterer of Petronas Tom’s told us in a brief chat session. Yours truly posed the question to Masahito Nakayama, the engineer in charge of the HSV’s chassis.

Both he and Masahiko Matsumoto, the HSV engine chief engineer, openly admitted the issue and explained that the NSX required lots of downforce, and Honda’s experience with that car was carried over for the HSV, which makes it great on corners and more technical circuits but loses out on top speed. The situation can be improved, and they’re working on it to make the HSV more of an all rounder. The two areas Honda is very proud of are the car’s chassis rigidity and the sound it makes, which is sharper to the ear than its rivals.

We also had a minute with Aguri Suzuki, the ex-F1 driver/team owner and boss of the ARTA team. While the respected figure gave thumbs up to the HSV, saying that it had “very high potential”, he admitted that they’re still getting used to racing, owning and maintaining the HSV, which is natural after running the NSX for nine seasons since 2000.

Images we took when snooping around the HSV garage are after the jump.
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Honda Accord Sedan and Coupe facelifted in the US

June 27, 2010 at 9:40 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Honda, International News

Honda has given the Accord a minor mid-life facelift in the US. Both the sedan and coupe body have been facelifted, and the sedan now sports a similar back end to our very own Malaysian market Accord as it has gained the two reflector strips on the boot lid that were missing from the USDM model.

On the front for both the sedan and coupe model, there’s new grilles and bumpers, and there are also new alloy wheel designs. The Accord Coupe also gets a revised brakelight appearance. There are some new features on the inside including a USB audio interface, new seat fabric for cloth seat models, an updated instrumentation panel design, and a new reverse camera for satnav-equipped cars.

There are pretty much no changes in the engine bay. Interestingly the 2.4 litre engine for the Accord comes in two tunes for different models. The LX, LX-P and SE sedan models get a similar engine tune to our Malaysian market car which produces 177 horsepower (180 PS) while the EX and EX-L Sedans as well as the LX-S, EX and EX-L Coupes get a slightly more powerful 190 horsepower model.

I’d expect the Malaysian market Accord facelift to be pretty much identical to the US model facelift but to get a clearer picture we’d have to wait until Honda launches an update for the Honda Inspire in the Japanese market as that car is almost identical to our car for the pre-facelift models.

Look after the jump for a full photo gallery for the USDM Accord facelift.
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Car manufactures in China may face another hurdle as Yuan strengthens

June 21, 2010 at 3:45 pm By Jacob Alexander Filed Under Cars, Honda, International News, Toyota

Just as Toyota and Honda raised wages to appease their workforce, the Chinese government has announced that they will be allowing the currency more flexibility to grow. This signals an end to the Yuan’s two year peg to the US dollar.

“The looser currency stance comes on the back of all these moves to endorse the wage increases, it’s all part of moving to the consumer, more domestic-demand-driven economy,” said Jim O’Neill, Goldman Sachs Group chief global economist.

Even if companies are now under pressure to increase wage packets which will have an effect on profit margins, China is still an attractive option for foreign investors. This is because the Yuan has always been undervalued and its rise will help contain inflation thereby likely reducing workers wage demands.

The effect of rising wages and investments can be seen in western China where it is deterring workers from migrating to more developed regions like Guangdong in the south, allowing companies to maintain its workforce.

At the moment though, none of the workers at the Honda Lock factory, who ended the five day strike at the plant, are worried about the state of the economy affecting their salaries, stating that a deal and a contract has been signed.

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Catch our Honda HSV-010 Super GT Racer live interview at 3 PM today on Facebook!

June 16, 2010 at 12:26 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Honda, Local News, Motorsports

Honda HSV-010

If you’re a fan of Super GT you would know that Honda has retired the NSX from the race and have replaced it with the new Honda HSV-010 GT race car, a model that’s not available for production as of yet. The HSV-010 is a front engine, rear wheel drive car and competes in the GT500 class. It’s powered by a 3.4 litre V8 engine. In case you’re curious, HSV stands for Honda Sports Velocity.

The car is definitely production ready for sure as Super GT is meant to be for production cars. Honda has actually managed to find a loophole in the Super GT rulebook that permits cars that are production ready to be fielded, so the car doesn’t actually have to be in production, although I’m sure a lot of you would like to see such a car in production!

We’ll be having a joint interview together with Zerotohundred with the Honda today at 3 PM on Honda Racing Malaysia’s Facebook Fan Page. It should be very interesting as this is not a car in production so there won’t be any “test drive reviews” to read from the world’s media. The only information we’re going to get are from Honda themselves.

Perhaps we can grill them to put the car into production :P Come drop by and watch the interview and participate in the Q&A section later.

UPDATE: Read the full interview here.

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Honda Malaysian Racing Team heads for the Merdeka Millenium Endurance Race

June 14, 2010 at 2:15 pm By Jacob Alexander Filed Under Honda, Local News, Motorsports

The Honda Malaysian Racing Team have officially announced their participation in the 11th Merdeka Millennium Endurance Race that will be held at the Sepang International Circuit on Sunday, August 8th 2010. The team will be competing in the 12-hour endurance race which starts at midnight and will have a whole host of challenges to overcome such as the tropical heat and humidity.

Thus it’s only right that they front an experienced group of drivers and that’s exactly what they have done in the form of Eddie Lew Kar Wai, Aaron Lim and Rueben Wong. Returning with them is the Honda Type R that was used last year along with the 22 members of the HMRT from Honda Malaysia.

Last year the HMRT team managed to achieve a podium finish in second position for the Class A2 and have plans to do better this year. This will be the 8th year that HMRT is participating in the MME race and HMRT’s objective is to instill “Honda racing DNA” into its associates and create a platform which allows local talents to thrive and to build up local team’s expertise in motorsports.

“I am very proud to witness the improvement of the HMRT from a team guided by MUGEN to today’s fully Malaysian team. Our local Honda associates demonstrate commendable passion and commitment in local motorsports to build up their skills and knowledge, and to support each other towards a victorious MME race 2010,” said Mr. Toru Takahashi Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Honda Malaysia who is also the HMRT Team Principal.

“Over the past few years, HMRT gradually became more independent from the guidance and supervision of MUGEN from Japan. Today, the team is confident enough to manage on their own. This in itself is a significant achievement and a big motivation for the team. This is also the ultimate objective of HMRT – to train and build up the skills of local talents to thrive in the motorsports and automotive arena. This year, 11 members from last year’s team returned to HMRT to lead in different divisions and to transfer their skills and knowledge to the other new HMRT members,” added Takashi.

“One of the biggest factors in helping us achieve 2nd position last year was good communication amongst the team members and great teamwork. No one is above anyone else. We all work together towards the one single goal. I am the fuel man leader for HMRT this year. My most important responsibility is to motivate the new team members and familiarize them with the job. I will also share with them what we learnt last year and how we can improve for this year. I sincerely hope that HMRT can win this year and learn from last year’s mistakes, focus and improve the weaknesses to ensure zero mistakes during the race,” said Muhd Faizul, a senior HMRT member.

Look after the jump for more pix of the team.
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Honda faces yet another strike at locks supplier

June 11, 2010 at 3:33 pm By Jacob Alexander Filed Under China, Honda, International News

Honda has been facing a host of strikes at different plants in China recently. The latest is at a lock supplier, located at Southern China’s Pearl River Delta. The workers plan to extend their strike to a third day.

Demands this time are for an increase in annual wages of nothing less than 15%, improved allowances, benefits, the right to organize independent labour unions and a promise from management that anyone joining the industrial action won’t be dismissed. The workers at the plant donned white overalls and pressed up against the factory fences shouting for their demands while being watched by police. “We’re definitely going to strike tomorrow, our wages are too low,” said one of the workers.

Honda Lock have confirmed that shipments to Japan were unaffected for at least a day or two as they have enough existing stock ready for shipment, but went on to add that the negotiations were on going and a prolonged dispute could disrupt the flow of supply to Honda’s car plants. “We’re still gathering information, and we don’t know when the negotiations will end,” Honda Lock’s Hirotoshi Sato said.

Previous strikes at an exhaust pipes maker in Foshan ended late last Wednesday, and as production returns to normal, shipments to Honda’s suspended factories would return to normal on Friday. This seems to be only a temporary agreement though, as key negotiations over pay are still underway it could still turn in either direction.

As we mentioned before, strikes and their accompanying settlements have sparked a whole new revolution in terms of factory workers pay. If automakers are worried about the fact that China’s labour costs might outweigh profitability, they needn’t fret.

One auto analyst from JPMorgan said that wage hikes would have little impact on Honda’s profits as labour cost accounted for just 5 to 6% of its total revenue, even in Japan! “So if we assume wages in China are between one-fifth and one-third those in Japan, the cost of factory floor workers in China comes to around 2% of sales. Assuming factory wages in China were raised a uniform 30%, we estimate the impact on the China operating margin would be (a decline of) just 0.6 percent,” according to report written by analyst Kohei Takahashi.

More company executives agree that higher pay is inevitable for an economy like China which is developing immensely. There have even been some comparisons made between China and Japan in terms of their development.

Source

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Honda’s exhaust supplier in China hit by workers strike

June 9, 2010 at 11:26 am By Jacob Alexander Filed Under Cars, Honda, International News

Just when Honda thought the worst was over, they have been hit by another strike by workers at its exhaust factory in Chancheng, China, just days after the settlement of a strike at another supplier.

According to reports, the strike at Foshan Fengfu Autoparts started early Monday when around 20 workers began rallying their colleagues to take part in the demonstration.

It gathered steam and numbers rose to 250 workers in a few hours, which is more than half of the 460 people working at the plant. No word has been given as to the reason for their strike, though it would be safe to assume that it would be regarding pay or work conditions.

Foshan Fengfu Autoparts is a joint venture between Yutaka Giken, which is 70% owned by Honda, and a Taiwanese company. The factory makes mufflers and other exhaust parts for Guangqi Honda, a 50:50 joint venture between Honda and Guangzhou Automobile that produces the Accord, Odyssey and Fit, among other models. Honda is assessing the situation but have confirmed that there are enough parts to continue making cars, for now.

Workers from a Guangdong plant supplying transmissions to Honda received a pay raise last week after striking last month over wages, bringing Honda’s car production in China to a halt. Their success spurred Foshan Fengfu’s staff on. “If their strike hadn’t been successful, our workers here probably wouldn’t be as united as we are now,” a 22-year old worker from Hunan was quoted by South China Morning Post as saying.

The Guangdong plant “victory” could spark a whole new revolution in China when it comes to factory worker wages. China could possibly cease being the cheap labor haven it currently is.

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