by Hans Greimel and Mark Rechtin of www.autonews.com
In 2011, Honda Motor Co. CEO Takanobu Ito unveiled the Earth Dreams powertrain line. But the fuel-sipping drivetrains had critics wondering whether the automaker had lost its performance edge.
Now, Ito is answering the critics with a trio of turbocharged engines and the company's second dual-clutch transmission.
Those powertrain additions likely will be for smaller-volume vehicles. In a quieter, yet no less important, introduction last week, the U.S.-market Civic received a continuously variable transmission for its 2014 model freshening.
With the redesigned 2015 Fit hatchback also poised to get a CVT, nearly all Honda passenger cars with four-cylinder engines and automatic transmissions will have CVTs. Adding up to nearly 700,000 units a year in the United States, that's a huge commitment to a technology that hasn't yet won broad consumer acceptance.
The additions to the powertrain lineup mean Honda's Earth Dreams line now covers the spectrum from fuel efficient to sporty. Call it Earth Dreams 2.0.
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Ito: Enhancing sportiness
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The new downsized turbos deliver more power and better fuel economy than Honda's earlier naturally aspirated engines. Customers who feel the need for speed will be won back, Ito promises, by the latest eight-speed dual-clutch transmission.
"We want to enhance the degree of sportiness within the current lineup," Ito told Automotive News. "To that end, we are continuing to develop DCTs. And we are trying to come up with a more powerful engine lineup."
Kurt Sanger, lead auto analyst with Deutsche Securities Japan in Tokyo, said, "It's notable that they are putting their foot back into the turbo ring. For Acura, it can only be a good thing to embrace a bit more performance."
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Toyota's Ogiso: Turbos across the portfolio
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Industry trend
Honda is joining an industry move to turbos in an attempt to boost fuel efficiency without sacrificing power -- or to boost power without hurting fuel efficiency.
Volkswagen, Ford and BMW led the move to turbos. Toyota, Subaru, Nissan and General Motors are among those following suit.
Toyota, which has no turbos in its lineup today, will use turbocharged engines across its portfolio, Satoshi Ogiso, managing officer in charge of global product planning, drivetrain and chassis engineering, said at the Tokyo Motor Show. The first -- since the 1980s -- will be a 2.0-liter engine offered in the Lexus NX 200t compact crossover expected in 2014.
Subaru will put its first downsized turbo on sale next spring in Japan: a 1.6-liter engine in the Levorg compact wagon. That engine subs for a naturally aspirated 2.0-liter engine, said Naoto Muto, executive vice president for global engineering.
Honda's new engines include 1.5- and 2.0-liter four-cylinders and a 1.0-liter three-cylinder. The 2.0-liter turbo is projected to have 280 hp, which would place it atop the industry at that displacement.
All combine turbocharging and fuel injection with Honda's variable value timing and lift system, known as VTEC. Honda also said it plans a twin-turbo V-6 for the redesigned 2015 Acura NSX, but the company declined to give that engine's size.
Honda also introduced a new eight-speed dual-clutch transmission, which joins a seven-speed version that is used in the Honda Fit hybrid and next year's Acura RLX sedan.
Bam-bam-bam
"We want to gear the DCT system toward people who really love sportier driving," Ito said. "The gears shift, 'bam-bam-bam.'"The 2.0-liter turbo will debut first, in 2015, in the European Civic. Yuji Matsumochi, the engine's chief engineer, said Honda is studying U.S. sales. The engine would replace a 3.5-liter V-6, he said. Honda says it achieves 10 percent better fuel efficiency and 10 percent better torque than the V-6.
The 1.5-liter is expected to arrive in 2016, and is geared toward North America and Asia, Matsumochi said. Honda is considering use in vehicles such as the Acura ILX and Honda Civic and Accord, but nothing has been decided, he said.
At a media event, Honda demonstrated it in an ILX. The 1.5-liter turbo would sub for a 1.8-liter or larger engine. Honda says it delivers 15 percent better fuel economy and 45 percent more torque than a conventional 1.8-liter engine.
The 1.0-liter turbo is expected to come last, possibly by the end of 2016, Matsumochi said. It is being considered for the United States, Europe, China and Asia.
Honda also released a CVT that had been revised since its intro with the fall 2012 launch of the Accord.
By not having fixed gear ratios, CVTs do not suffer "shift shock" during acceleration, producing a more linear acceleration feel than a normal automatic transmission.
But for some drivers, the sensation of a CVT's pulleys and cones finding the optimal acceleration and fuel efficiency can feel disturbingly like a slipping clutch. The 2014 Civic's CVT "will not interrupt the usual experience of a car," vowed Jay Guzowski, American Honda Motor Co. product planning manager.
Honda is far from alone in the CVT race. Nissan Motor Corp. equips the Sentra, Altima, Murano and Cube with CVTs. The redesigned 2014 Toyota Corolla has CVTs in nearly every trim level.
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Honda's Iwamura: Serious CTV discussions
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CVT issues
But the longer-term durability and reliability of some CVTs -- especially those combined with higher-horsepower engines -- has been an issue. Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn has singled out the company's CVTs as prone to recalls. Volkswagen of America this year settled a class-action lawsuit over alleged defects of CVTs in 2002-06 Audi A4 and A6 cars.
CVTs also suffer greater parasitic losses than dual-clutch automatics in getting power from the engine to the wheels.
American Honda CEO Tetsuo Iwamura, speaking at the Los Angeles Auto Show, acknowledged that Honda engineers had "serious discussions" about migrating to CVTs. The consensus was that Honda would go with CVTs so long as performance and drive characteristics were better than those of the geared automatics they replaced. If not, Honda would stick with automatics or dual-clutch automatics.
Said Iwamura: "It's up to us how to allocate the technologies, according to the character of the model."
An Acura ILX outfitted with a 1.5 liter turbocharged engine.
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