2009 Honda Civic Coupe

Following on the heels of the unveiling of the 2009 Civic Sedan, , the wraps have come off the two-door version. As expected, the coupe shares the subtle design upgrades with its four-door counterpart and promises to continue offering Civic buyers a sporty alternative.

Up front, the 2009 Civic coupe features a new bumper, along with newly designed air inlets – three separate inlets replace last year’s large single inlet. A revised grille rounds out the changes for the front of the 2009 Civic. Out back, the Civic’s taillights have received a freshening. The base model will feature a 140 horsepower 1.8L four-cylinder that is rated at 36 mpg highway.

[Source: Honda]

2009 Honda Civic Si Sedan

Honda has revealed its updated 2009 Honda Civic sedan model that will now come with new style, engine, technology, and safety features. Honda has said that the new 2009 Civic sedan model will come with redesigned exterior styling features, which would include a new front bumper cover, new grille design, and new headlight plus new taillight color combinations. The 2009 Honda Civic Si model will sport new alloy wheel designs. The 2009 Honda Civic Si model will come with new fog lamps.

On the engine front, the 2009 Honda Civic comes with a high-revving, 197-horsepower, 8000 rpm redline, 2.0 liter i-VTEC® 4-cylinder engine; 6-speed close-ratio manual transmission.

As the high-performance derivative of Honda models, the Civic Si is truly the hot rod of the Honda line-up.

2009 Honda Pilot

The all-new, completely-redesigned 2009 Honda Pilot is set to debut at dealerships nationwide on May 22 with a Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price(i) (MSRP) starting at $27,595, plus destination and handling, for the well-equipped Honda Pilot LX -- the same as the 2008 model's price entry point, American Honda Motor Co., Inc., announced today.

2009 Honda Pilot

Honda Considering Faster Model Updates To Beat Competition

2010 Honda Accord Sedan

The new car market is starting to get just a little overcrowded with quality vehicles, and in a time where customers all around the world are cutting back on their spending, things like performance, fuel-economy and overall value is now more important than ever.

Today, it’s hard to find a truly bad car and differentiating between brands, especially in the affordable car segments, is becoming more and more difficult for consumers with every new model roll out.

Honda concedes that this is a major problem and is considering speeding up planned model updates. Honda exec John Mendel said his company plans to beat the competition with new technology and by introducing models in new market sectors, but admits that there will likely have to be more model updates in order to improve quality, reliability and fuel economy.

"We don't have the gap that we had years ago," he revealed at a press event last week in Detroit. "There's nobody out there building junk any more."

For example, Honda has always had a reputation for good quality and fuel efficient cars but today many of its rivals are doing better. Take the Accord sedan, for example. The car is Honda’s top-selling model in the U.S. but Toyota, Nissan, Ford and General Motors all have similar models that are more fuel efficient on the highway.

Honda CR-Z concept inches toward production

The CR-Z's truncated tail evokes the CRX subcompact of the '80s.

Another year, another car show, another opportunity for Honda to trot out its CR-Z compact hybrid concept. However for the 2009 Tokyo Motor Show, which takes place right in the automaker's back yard, Honda has updated the concept to reflect what we can expect to see in the production model.

So what can we expect from the production CR-Z? Well, the form factor is something of a cross between the CRX subcompact of the '80s and the Honda Insight hybrid. Under the hood, we can expect a 1.5-liter gasoline four-cylinder paired with the Integrated Motor Assist (IMA) hybrid tech that we've seen in action in all of Honda's other hybrid vehicles. Supplementing the available CVT transmission will be a six-speed manual gearbox option.

I know what you're thinking, oh CRX enthusiasts. When we last saw the Honda CRX in 1991, it was packing a 105-horsepower 1.6-liter four (or 150-horsepower if you were lucky enough to live in Japan) and a lightweight, tossable chassis. It's not likely the CR-Z's hybrid power train will output too much more than that; so with the additional weight and complexity, will the CR-Z be able to recapture the small car joy? Only time will tell.

Honda takes another crack at a sporty CR-Z hybrid

Honda, having already unveiled a version of the CR-Z hybrid sports concept, is about to give it another go. It will unleash a new concept version of the same car at the Tokyo Motor Show later this month. From the looks of this one, they may have gotten it right.

The CR-Z is aimed at showing that social responsibility and fun can go together. That's news to us. We've always tilted more to the fun camp. The CR-Z would be the sporty alternative to the staid Insight sedan, which so far hasn't exactly lit up the sales chart in the U.S. At this point, Honda badly needs a hit hybrid if it wants to become known for them.

The real CR-Z, the one you can actually buy, is due to come to showrooms next year.

Honda Exec: Aim for 655,000 Unit Sales This Yr In Japan

Honda Motor Co. is targeting sales of 655,000 vehicles in Japan for this fiscal year through March, up from its initial goal of 572,000 vehicles, said Hiroshi Kobayashi, chief operating officer for domestic sales, Friday.

The new target represents a 12.9% increase from the last fiscal year.

The stronger domestic sales are due to solid sales of the Insight hybrid vehicle, the Fit compact, and the Freed compact minivan, Kobayashi said at a news conference for the launch of the redesigned StepWGN minivan.

Honda EV-N concept is retro-adorable

Honda EV-N Concept
When the curtain rises on the Tokyo Motor Show next month, Honda's green-themed display will include what it calls the HELLO! Zone, a showcase for electric vehicles. Why "HELLO! Zone"? Well, we have no idea, other than it reminds us of a certain feline and that the Japanese clearly have a thing for all-caps names and exclamation points. In the HELLO! Zone, showgoers can say, uh, "hello" to the excruciatingly neat, relentlessly cute EV-N concept. It's a retro-styled battery-powered car with a face of a pug puppy crossed with a Trabant and nifty concept-y features like swappable seat fabrics, a solar roof, and a "communications system" embedded in the black front fascia. Most importantly, however, the EV-N's passenger door contains one of those bizarrely kickass UX-3 super gyroscopic robot unicycles, which pretty much makes the EV-N the coolest electric car of all time. We think. Anyhow, when Honda unveils an ASIMO that can both drive the EV-N and then self-deploy on the UX-3, it's time to go hide under your beds, because that'll be the signal that their robot army is ready for world domination. But we digress.

Honda unleashes the goods on VFR 1200F

Finally, after what seems like years of rumor, innuendo, spy shots and speculation, Honda has unleashed the goods on its new 2010 VFR 1200F, and it's pretty much what we've been expecting. Buried beneath the dual-pane bodywork and vacuum-molded cast aluminum chassis lies a 1,237 cc V4 engine that reportedly puts out 172 hp at 10,000 RPM and 95 lb-ft of torque at a high 8,750 RPM.

A 43-millimeter upside-down fork is fitted up front and adjustable for preload, while a single shock featuring Honda's Pro-Link system and equipped with 25 positions of preload is mounted out back. With a claimed weight of nearly 600 pounds, the new VFR is certainly no lightweight, and the highly anticipated dual-clutch gearbox and cylinder deactivation technologies appear to be additional-cost options.

On the positive side, we like the fact that the bike has its own unique look, and the single-sided swingarm sports a shaft drive. Expect the whole kit-n-kaboodle to be released at the upcoming Tokyo Motor Show, including the bike's retail price and official sale date.