First drive: Honda Brio Automatic - NewsX

Aways interesting to see what's going on with Honda in other markets....

Honda Tuning: 1992 Honda Prelude - The Honda Paradigm

The likelihood of you being familiar with this bright green ’92 Prelude is no doubt very high. Let us cast aside all clichés of anyone living under any sort of rock. If you are a Honda enthusiast who has Internet access, chances are you have seen or heard of the “Big Mike Prelude build.” If you happen to be living in an area where you are strictly relegated to getting your Honda news via snail mail, then you should still be somewhat familiar with this Prelude because it has graced the cover of Honda Tuning magazine once before (see July 2008 issue). Since that time it has seen quite the transformation; if you were to put this cover and the cover of the ’08 July issue side by side, the images would appear to be two completely different builds. Back then Big Mike’s Prelude was a nice, well-rounded project, spotlighting a chassis that wasn’t exactly the most popular of Hondas to build. Today, it represents one of the archetypes of how Hondas should be built and an inspiration to fellow enthusiasts worldwide. Yeah, to say that things have changed would be an understatement.

The two builds might as well have been two separate Preludes—many of his friends even thought that he should have started fresh with another BB4 chassis. Its first incarnation was subtle, clean, and made for a good cruiser. Things were different four years ago; the platform was new to Mike and it was an experimental time for the long-term enthusiast. The manifestation you see is far from experimental. Instead, it is a product of calculated, well-thought-out planning. Big Mike seized the opportunity to not only build one of the best Preludes, he wanted to take the unpopular chassis and transform it into one of the most recognized builds within the Honda community. The first step involved a change in color. The rich wine tone was laid down very nicely, but it just didn’t have that “wow” factor that captured the collective attention of others. Mike decided on a new paint choice by accident, as he explains: “I was driving one day when I spotted a truck that belonged to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the color really stuck with me. I went home and did some research and discovered that there wasn’t really any fancy name for it. It was literally known as ‘U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service Green.’ The name itself was bland, but it really popped, and I knew I had to paint my Prelude that color.” Those who know Big Mike personally will tell you that he is very meticulous in nature and even more so when it comes to his projects. The body shop that applied the mint green tone not only had to paint every nook and crevice of his BB4, they had to do it three separate times due to Mike discovering minor imperfections in the paint. He also had a multitude of different parts he needed painted because he wanted to occasionally switch things up. Mike had utilized a rare AeroMagic front lip for much of the Prelude’s second stage before recently swapping to a molded Chargespeed lip with custom fabricated blinker delete plates.

His attention to detail translates to the interior of his Honda in a similar fashion, using a mix of OEM restoration and one-off custom creations. Every possible interior piece, minus the seats and door panels, have been replaced with OEM parts that Mike has collected. The space-aged OE dashboard display is further enhanced with AEM gauges providing information from the motor and Series 2 EMS unit. The dated factory seats have been removed, and holding Big Mike firmly in place are a pair of custom bucket seats rewrapped in authentic black bandana material with black suede. Rear seats are rewrapped to match the buckets while the headliner and door panel inserts have been refreshed with a layer of black suede. Mike even managed to source brand-new carpet straight from a Honda dealership.

For the rest follow the link;
http://www.hondatuningmagazine.com/features/htup_1210_1992_honda_prelude/viewall.html

Honda Beat on Track for Production

by Noah Joseph

 

New roadster from Honda could be based on Fit/Jazz. 

 

Back in the early 90s, Honda made a small mid-engined, rear-drive roadster called the Beat, a tiny Kei car roadster designed by Pininfarina. It was the last car overseen by company founder Soichiro Honda before he died, when Honda's current president Takanobu Ito was working on developing the original NSX. "I was kind of envious of the little cute sports car," admitted Ito in a recent speech in the United States, in which the Japanese auto exec revealed that Honda would bring revive the Beat with a new compact sports car.

 

We first reported on plans for a Honda Beat revival back in June 2011, when it seemed that the roadster would be based on the CR-Z hybrid sport-hatch. Now it seems, however, that the Beat will more likely borrow its underpinnings from the Fit with a design derived from the EV-STER and OSM concepts, though its powertrain could go either conventional or hybrid. One way or another, don't expect the Beat to retain the mid-engine/rear-drive layout of its predecessor, as the new roadster is more likely to go front-drive. Whether that proves enough for Honda to take on the likes of the Subaru BRZ/Toyota GT86/Scion FR-S, or even the Mazda MX-5 Miata, remains to be seen.

Source;

http://www.carbuzz.com/news/2012/10/15/Honda-Beat-on-Track-for-Production-7711168/

Honda, Toyota, Nissan and Hyundai sign MoU for Nordic introduction of fuel cell electric vehicles

by Danny Tan

Last week, Honda, Toyota, Nissan and Hyundai signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with organisations from the Nordic countries to support the market introduction of fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) and hydrogen refuelling infrastructure between 2014 and 2017.

Besides the carmakers, the signing organisations wre hydrogen infrastructure companies HyOP AS (Norway); H2 Logic A/S (Denmark); Copenhagen Hydrogen Network A/S (Denmark) and Nordic NGOs HyNor Norway; Hydrogen Sweden; Icelandic New Energy; Hydrogen Link Denmark Association and Scandinavian Hydrogen Highway Partnership (SHHP).

This collaboration follows last month’s announcement by Honda CEO Takanobu Ito of the company’s development of an all-new FCEV for Japan, USA and Europe, to be launched from 2015. It also comes off the back of a month-long and high profile Europe Hydrogen Vehicle Road Tour, organised by H2 Moves Scandanavia. The tour had an event at the UK’s first public-access hydrogen refuelling station based at Honda’s Swindon base.

“In 2002 Honda became the world’s first carmaker to put a fuel cell car on the road with regular customers, delivering the Honda FCX Clarity to fleet users in the United States and Japan. We want to continue to lead the way for fuel cell technology across the world including Europe. This MoU signifies that commitment,” said Ken Kier, Executive VP of Honda Motor Europe.

Hyundai also has such a car, the ix35 FCEV, which has fuel cell tech in a Tucson body.

Source;
 http://paultan.org/2012/10/15/honda-toyota-nissan-and-hyundai-sign-mou-for-nordic-introduction-of-fuel-cell-electric-vehicles/

Honda Hybrid Sales Reach 1-Million Mark

Honda has announced that it has managed to sell one million hybrid vehicles, some 13 years after the first generation Insight went on sale in Japan, which at the time was the world’s most fuel-efficient gasoline-powered vehicle.

They managed to reach 100,000 units sold in April of 2005, following the 2004 launch of the Accord Hybrid, for the North American market. Following the launch of the second generation Insight, in February of 2009, and the CR-Z and Fit Hybrid in 2010, by the end of the year they had totaled 600,000 sold.

The last hybrid to be launched, which made a difference, is the Acura ILX hybrid, which is only available in Canada and the US. Their range of hybrids now totals 8 models, which are sold in some 50 countries around the world, and have a very devoted audience.

Source;
http://www.autoevolution.com/news/honda-hybrid-sales-reach-1-million-mark-50525.html

Bugatti EB110 SS Burnout

Wow, is this ever a good looking car!

Carscoop!: LFA Turned Pink for Breast Cancer Awareness; Lexus Asks if You Like the Color

True, we have seen sports and luxury cars go pink before, sometimes for noble purposes and other times for vanity, but a limited run supercar in this flushing shade is bound to capture our attention, which is what its inventors intended in the first place. 
 
Lexus of Brisbane Group (that would be in Australia) introduced the pink-wrapped LFA in support of the "Faingaa Twins" for their role as ambassadors for the National Breast Cancer Foundation during Breast Cancer Awareness Month. 
 
After posting the two pictures of the pink LFA, the Australian distributor asked its Facebook and Twitter users if they liked the color, with most commentators being positive about the look. 
 
You can also weigh in your thoughts on the shade in our comments section after the break. 

Source;
http://carscoop.blogspot.com/2012/10/lfa-turned-pink-for-breast-cancer.html 

Report: UCSD researches say new lithium-ion battery tech could cut cost, increase charge times

Researchers from University of California, San Diego say that they have figured out a way to better estimate what goes on inside lithium ion batteries. The breakthrough could lead to lower battery costs and faster charging times for lithium-ion batteries used in electric-vehicles.

An algorithm has been put together by professor Miroslav Krstic and postdoctoral fellow Scott Moura to see what actually goes in the ‘complicated world’ of lithium ion batteries.

“If one could have a better knowledge or better estimation of what’s going on inside, one could [safely] operate closer to the limits of performance, which means that the oversizing and overdesign would be less necessary,” Krstic said. “That translates into savings in costs and in weight.”


Krstic said that right now, engineers have little understanding how lithium-ion behaves in batteries so they build batteries that are too large and heavy. By using the their algorithm, the cost of producing lithium-ion batteries could reduce by 25 percent and could double charge times.

Source;
http://www.egmcartech.com/2012/10/10/report-ucsd-researches-say-new-lithium-ion-battery-tech-could-cut-cost-increase-charge-times/