Straight from Honda new President, Takanobu Ito, Honda cancels development of rear wheel drive cars.  A sad news for many enthusiasts because they balked at the fact that the previous Honda President, Takeo Fukui announced exciting projects for Honda, namely a new flagship rear wheel drive sedan, powered with a new V8 engine and the arrival of the most awaited replacement for Honda supercar, NSX. Spy shots of the new rear wheel drive mule car are abound, and the NSX replacement, sporting its V10 engine is screaming around the test track, everything is ready… Until Takanobu Ito arrives on the scene. Takanobu Ito is no stranger to Honda spirited roots, he is in fact, the guy in charge of creating NSX all aluminum body. So he knows a thing or two about what makes a great car (not an excessive engine).

The move is warranted though, not because Ito-san hates the enthusiasts or something, it’s just Honda couldn’t afford making these so called “question marks” products… At least according to BCG high growth/low demand matrix. The halo effect is there positively, but how is the demand? Let’s take a look at Honda profit ending 2008… 20 Billion Yen… WOWZA! A lot of cash no? No! Ending 2007, Honda profit is roughly 200 Billion Yen, 10 times of that last year. What Honda needs are cash cow products, products that makes profit like well, Fit/Jazz, Accord, Freed, and anything in between.

The new flagship sedan would just create costs and like any late comers, it will not sell well. Honda will need to cover for loss of the new car, something that Honda simply just couldn’t afford. What they can afford though is the creation of car variants from existing platform, that’s why the ZDX came to be, because it’s just a bigger Accord.

So what if Honda doesn’t have a 370Z, RX-8, ZR-1, SLK? What Honda needs now is to survive and that’s a priority over slow selling (albeit super sexy) cars anytime, anytime. Takanobu Ito will have a tough time and will have his photo on the target range of any misled Honda fans. But for true fans who understand the situation, he is actually a savior who dares to take the seat and all the responsibility (and one of the responsibilities is to take shit from enthusiasts).

But there’s still good news though; the NSX replacement is shelved, but that’s just the V10 version. There is news about Honda going to create another supercar… A hybrid supercar. Yep, Honda is rumored to scrap the V10 engine for a V6 hybrid system, just like Toyota planned hybrid Supra revival. But unlike Toyota’s hybrid 400 horsepower engine, Honda own super hybrid will generate up to 450 horsepower. This new bigger hybrid system will also found its way onto family friendly cars, probably destined to found its way under Acura hoods.

My take on the cancellation of anything rear wheel coming out from Honda is not the end all devastating news. So what if Honda or Acura is not becoming like Mercedes, BMW or even Toyota/Lexus? Honda well, they are going after Audi and Volvo… At least they both have the same front wheel vanilla cars and AWD spicier version. However both Audi and Volvo are not so stingy with their engine offering, at least there’s turbo and big V8s on Volvo side, and Audi have like what… V8, V10, W12… Acura could have gone the way of the Audis and I would care less just add more engines… A-VTEC would be nice Ito-san!

Source:

Rumored Honda super hybrid is coming

Takanobu Ito: FR Sedans are lame

Ito as new Honda President: Red marks all over

Here it is folks, pictures and witty comments of 2009 Indonesian Honda Freed. The model you’ll be seeing is the baseline version with the uprated rims from the original Japanese Honda Freed and some exclusions to fit with the intended target market price bracket.

Let’s start to take a look from the exterior sides first.

Short nose, highly advanced engineering

Taking the same platform of the Fit/Jazz, the Freed inherit the same “near-zero” hood, because that’s how awesome Honda engineers are, able to create such a compact engine to make a compact and easy to maneuverable car. But one thing you will notice from the outside is…

Smoked headlight for added oomph

Smoked headlight, standard for all model. Nice addition and makes this white over black headlight really nice. Although not as nice as the…

Uprated tires and rims nudge the ground clearance higher

Uprated rim and tires from the original JDM model. Freed JDM models employs 14” rims as standard and 160 mm of ground clearance. Clearly the use of 15” rims by Freed competitors and the necessity to heighten Freed’s original ground clearance for shoddy Indonesian cities roads warrant this upgrade. Freed uses 185/65 tires on 15” rims, which boost Freed’s ground clearance to a healthy 165 mm. Not tall enough, but enough as not to destroy the driving dynamics. Which you want because…

L15 engine although slightly detune

The Freed has the same engine as the Fit/Jazz and City. Notice the same air duct towards the intake of the car positioned near the firewall of the engine bay? That means fresh relatively cool air is fed towards the intake for maximum efficiency at high speed. Even though the power is down from 120ps that of Fit/Jazz and City to 118ps to the Freed, it’s still the most powerful engine for its given capacity (1.5L). Which you want to utilize because…

Side visibility is superb

The driving position is very nice. Although this car doesn’t feature telescopic steering only tilt and there is no height adjustment on the driver seat, good seating position is achievable. Which gives… Nice visibility from driving position to all sides. The A pillar is slanty enough so you can see tall objects on the side and the instrument cluster is nicely positioned just slightly below the front glass, perfect for glancing while driving.

Cheap AC controls, but awesome dash design

Phew… It’s quite hard to write something that continuous, so let’s continue with the usual flow… Interior size wise, the car is adequate for the majority of Asians, although some tall guy including me will need to adjust the seat quite extremely to find the perfect seating position (just slide the seats all the way back). Seating position for second and third row is limited for my “178 cm long in the legs” posture, as my knee will always scrub against something. Not so much for the first row because there are more leg room upfront.

Upholstery is not what I expected, but still nice

I found that the seating position is a bit low, thus I couldn’t find comfortable seating position on second and third row. Bearable on short trips, but not so much for longer ones. Tall people, definitely sits at the first row only.

One thing that I found very satisfying sitting inside the Freed on the second and third row seat is the tall roofline. The tall roofline gives a lot positive feeling psychologically, being that It’s like you’re sitting in a more spacious room. The same thing applies I guess to your house design, low roofline and you will feel that you’re living in a smaller place than if the roofline is higher… It’s psychobable, because you live horizontally not vertically, but it’s real.

Flat floor + sexy legs

There is one minus point for the second row interior, in that, although the captain seat has arm rest, it’s only on the inner side of the interior, and not the outer. In fact, the outer position where the doors are, there are no arm rest and even a crease to put your arm. You can only rest your arm on the inner side of the seat.

Entry point is very accessible

Entering and exiting the car for the second row is very nice for average and tall people. Thanks to the side handles, small size persons (a kid) can just grab on the handle and climb up the footstep, thank goodness the car ground clearance is not too high as to hamper entering and exiting the car. While trying to enter and exit the car, now I realize, having a tall ground clearance have its adverse side effect; because the taller the ground clearance, the taller the entry/exit point is. Imagine your Grandmother have to literally “climb” her way up to your Land Cruiser… Yeah, buy that LC Grandma haters…

Access to the third row seat is through the alley of the second row seat. Which is kind of tight because of the protruding armrest. But given that this is me “not your typical Asian” we are talking, medium size people will be able to pass through the alley with ease.

The third seat as pictured before, folds upward and splits 50/50. I can easily get out from the third row seat when one was folded upward through the rear hatch… Although I didn’t know why you would do that…  The minus point for this folding upward seat is that it won’t allow wide tall objects to be put on the floor, because the seat above it will obstruct the object. Tall slim objects are perfect though.

Final words

The Freed is definitely geared towards average Asians upstart family who wants comfort and entry level luxury. The size is obviously perfect for average size Asians, thanks to its box shaped overall body structure. Legrooms might be tight, but shoulder and head room is ginormous. The second row and third row features reclining seats, because there are lots of space available, and it even still has some space left behind the third row seat.

Honda really did it this time. The car price is dead on, fits perfectly between the Jazz and the City and really seals the image that Honda is premium brand. The local advertisement of Indonesian Honda Freed might be too much on the framing of the target market and less about the car, but it’s okay, Honda Indonesia really nails the premium aspect of the car.

Given the price, the Freed is expensive to say the least. But consider this: Freed emulates to a perfect degree of expensive people movers such as Alphard, Elysion and Elgrand. Because the car chassis and platform (FF) mimics perfectly of its more expensive brethren. Nissan Grand Livina is the closest direct competitor to Freed platform wise, but it sits lower and the roofline is lower. Sure the Nissan Grand Livina has the advantage in driving dynamics, being lower and all, but it won’t easily beat Freed’s spacious interior vertically.

I see that the demographic for Freed is very wide ranging. From 30 to 45, and economic strata of A & B+. From upstart family to just those who started a new life together. Perfect? Not really. Hit the target? 102%

Thanks to Pak. Harris at Autoland Kelapa Gading for putting up with me and the family long after the dealership closing time, and no thanks to Nokia E75 shitty low light pictures.

Okay, 2008 is closing, and even though Honda posts record breaking profit by the middle of 2008, September came and hell along with the winter autumn breeze. Why hell? Hell… Everything plummet since September, everything that went up suddenly dropping like it was, I dunno, want to crack some joke but I think it’s futile anyway. Anyway…

When somebody wrote “The situation is worsening every day in all regions.” in their publicized company report… Then, probably it is. For 2009, Honda forecasts a drop in automobile and power equipment demands, but cited an increase in motorcycle demand. Well, it is given, when you can’t afford a car, you will buy a motorcycle (if you live in SE Asia).

“Unit sales forecasts are: motorcycles; 10.3 million units (+10.5%), automobiles; 3.65 million units (-7%), power products; 5.185 million units (-14.4%).”

The forecasts seems… Rather safe and heart lightening, however, when we look at the direction Honda is taking, I’m not so sure anymore. “

“• Toward this end, Honda will closely monitor the marketplace and then carefully determine what actions need to be taken. Once decisions are made, Honda will take quick action as the company realizes the situation is very urgent and a slight delay in making management decisions could be critical.

• Based on this understanding of the situation, bonuses for directors, corporate auditors and operating officers will be reassessed based on the business results of the current fiscal year ending March 31, 2009. In addition, monthly remuneration of directors, corporate auditors and operating officers will be cut by 10% for all directors starting January 2009.” Things are tough when the higher ups bonuses are reassessed based on the business results.”

Tough, because if the situation doesn’t improve, it’s up to the higher ups effort to maintain their bonuses, and in this uncertain economy condition… Well it’s safe to assume that Honda just want to cut its spending.

Okay, so enough of the preliminary, let’s just cut into the meaty part. So…

The darker side…

• Honda is canceling the NSX project, along with it, the V10 and V8 engine destined to go to Acura.
• As such, Acura launch in Japan is postponed.
• So does medium to large diesel engines.
• Not to mention quitting F1 and AMA.

The lighter side…

• Honda will concentrate on small sized cars as forecasted will be the top selling model of 2009. Meaning no more waiting for the Fit on the dealers!
• Hybrids are go, CR-Z is confirmed for 2010, and Insight V2 will be available early next year.
• Focusing on small cars, Honda will introduce small size diesels and an unnamed small car positioned below the Fit/Jazz.
• Honda will make available full electric scooter in 2 years time.

The Acura homeward bound cancellation is quite a shocker… But considering that it will take much more effort of time and money to introduce and maintain two separate brand, Honda best bet is just to keep Acura where it already established its business. When things are better, you can be sure Honda is going to take Acura home!

The NSX cancellation means a lot for everybody, Honda own NSX that races in SuperGT needs replacement badly… It’s the only naturally aspirated small block V6 on the grid. Fighting with the likes of large bore V8s of Toyota and super turbos of Nissan makes an easy opponent of Honda… Although the NSX is giving Toyota and Nissan a run for their money. NSX might not dominates anymore, but the extra decade old NSX still slots in on the top 5 at SuperGT… And sometimes manage a podium finish, not bad at all.

The V8 that is planned to go to Acura is another question mark. I would say Honda already have a blueprint for the engine, but just doesn’t want to produce it in quantity. Remembering the fact that new technology = retooling cost, and cost is the keyword that everybody is trying to avoid next year. Oh well, in the coming tough times, it’s good enough that people still buys a car.

One of the biggest interesting aspect of the year end report speech is the introduction of an unnamed small car that will be positioned below the Fit/Jazz. Is it the Life? Or better yet, Zest Spark? If it is, why wait 3 years? 3 years is quite a long time, the global economy slowdown might as well be relieved by then… Well, or perhaps Honda is waiting for its Chinese-partnership to bear fruits? The Li-Nian concept car is mighty fine… I wouldn’t mind driving a Chinese made Honda.

The all new Honda Zest Spark… Not released yet

All in all, Honda is bracing for a tougher times ahead, and there nothing to better close this post than taking it directly from the big man himself…

“Honda is a company driven to achieve continuous growth by the dreams and passions of each Honda associate. Especially when the company faces difficult times, each associate will maintain a high level of initiative and continue challenging.”

We will always challenge the future Fukui-san, we will always.

Source:

Official Honda CEO year end speech

The automotive scene is revving up with a new super blurry and not so clear interior picture of Honda’s latest supercar, and like the old saying, a picture worth a thousand words… Well, except for porn, it’s worth more. As usual, bigger pictures can be found on the original thread here.

Blurry as hell, but you can see the numbers clearly

Well, as you can see, even if it’s blurry, the tachometer indicates a clear 10000 RPM rev limit, with a redline around 8200-8400 RPM (conservatively). Here, I blew up the picture and added some graphical outline.

A mediocre attempt to clear things up

The redline area I drew is just a rough estimate, taking a clue from Ferrari 430 tachometer below. Like the Ferrari, this new Honda super car have 10000 RPM rev limit. However, there’s that extra white line extending after 10000 RPM on the new Honda… What is that?

Judging from my rough estimate, such high engine rotation can only mean the car easily achieve 550ps Honda claim from the new car. So what about that extra white line after the redline? Well, if I may guestimate… Badly, and don’t take my word for this… Honda will incorporate some “over revv” function like in Formula 1 cars. Meaning that in daily drive, the car will use lower horsepower and if needed, the car can go full blast to its 550ps, just like the BMW M5.  The BMW M5 initially has 507 Bhp engine, however when the car is started, it only produces 400 Bhp unless the “power mode” is activated. The purpose probably to make the car more economical when needed, after all, this is Honda we are talking about, Mr. Efficient.

Ferrari: Race single mindedness to the extreme

Well, it actually is… A VERY BAD GUESS from my side. The white strip thingie is actually a light reflection on the tachometer display ring!!!! DAMN! That’s humiliating… A much higher resolution picture is coming courtesy of Temple of VTEC. You guys can check it here or just go to the source link I posted below.

Oh, one more thing. I’m actually quite surprised that the car has a complete interior. For a release date of 2010-2011, this car looks very finished already. You can see a lot of buttons on the stylish steering wheel. Not just buttons per se, but more like MID control, audio control, cruise control and the likes. This car can be released next year for all I know. But the million dollar question remains… Will this be a Honda or an Acura?

Source:

10000 RPM tach of NSX replacement

Here it is, the all new 2009 (2008 model year) Acura TL in all of its Darth Vader ride of choice glory.

2009 TL, Darth Vader’s personal car

For those in the not know… If there’s such a term… Acura is the luxury division of Honda, and the TL is one of its most successful model, sales wise. This car actually was designed and made exclusively for Acura, so you won’t find a Honda with the same styling as the TL. It’s officially stated, that the new TL will come under two flavors, vanilla and bush berry suprise, that meaning, a front wheel drive version and a “hotter” all wheel drive version. Acura official press release just mention about that that and the fact that the hotter model will feature “Acura’s most powerful engine in history of Acura”. Well, we know that they have the 3.7L VTEC producing 300bhp in the MDX and the RL (Honda Legend), so in a sense of the statement, the new TL will have… I don’t know… More? Or the same?

The design of the car really brings some sort of shock and awe to the automotive scene. Acura is regarded as one of the most conservative brand, styling wise in the industry… Well, with it being Honda lackey and all. The new TL design is leap and bound of Acura basically bland designs. Well, the RDX and MDX leads the way and stuff, but the TL raise it up a notch. Gone are the classic Accord lines, and in are the new lines that resembles Lexus ES and Infiniti M series. Some again… Ridicule the design, stating that the Japanese only have one designer for the three marque. However, it is a very welcome change, I see the new TL design is a breath of fresh air, and I’m anxious of how it fares against its competitors.

The “shield” grill is okay, it’s growing up on me. It’s a distinct shape, and one that separates the Acura from the Honda… The men and the boy, the well established and the aspiring enterpreneur, the bold and the beautiful, the mickey and the mouse… the… I’m running out of word here, so before it gets more corny, I will just quit.

The current and soon obsolete Acura TL Type-S

Anyway, the 2009 TL will be unveiled soon, this fall… And you know there will be a paper review up in the corner somewhere…

Source:

Acura Media News room.

Based on the spy pictures of Honda next generation NSX replacement supercar, AutoExpress came up with a beautiful render without the ugly camouflage. Although the proportion might be a little bit blown off, a real representation of the car is looking better than expected. Better pictures of the render and witty comments after the click.

Internet media have claim that they have pictures of a supposedly Honda/Acura burly supercar under testing in Germany, on the famous Nürburgring race track. One of the media, the famous Edmunds.com even claim from a reliable source that the CEO himself has tasked Honda R&D to make this car a Nissan GT-R and Lexus LF-A killer. But is this an Acura or Honda? Let’s compare this car to the Acura Advanced Sport Sedan Concept. As usual, more pictures and witty comments after the click.

Leftlanenews.com has posted what seems to be an Acura test car that features a long bonnet signifying a longitudinal engine placement… Or in lament term, the engine is front to back, a typical engine placement for a rear wheel drive cars. This clear Acura Frankenstein car is predicted by Leftlanenews.com crew to be the 2010 Acura RL. More witty comments and link to pictures after the click.

Acura apparently has admitted that they are not up there with the likes of Mercedez, BMW, or even Lexus at a recent dealer meeting. Starting next year, Acura will make a huge “shift” to tier 1 although I suspect that this shift will probably just the start of something big, not necessarily the “it” factor, so expect results in 2-3 years time. Here’s the summary of what Acura shift will be. Articles and witty commentary after the click.

Behold, the 2009 Acura RL, the most expensive minor model change (MMC) Honda luxury division, Acura ever done to a single vehicle. New for this MMC is… Well, it’s just too many actually, but let’s take a look one by one as we peel the outer shell of the new Acura RL into its inner core.

From the outside, Acura brings about massive changes to the front and rear end styling of the car. Beginning from the front, the headlamp, the grill, and the bumper has been totally revised. New for the MMC RL is a streamlined design of hood, grill and bumper. As you can see, there’s a crease running from the base of the engine hood (the nearest point to the front window) straight down to the lower line of the bumper, before, this crease stops at the lower bumper area where it met with a large air duct. For 2009 model, the air duct is replaced with a uniformed bulge and crease from the hood, streamlining the whole front fascia. The headlight also changed, from the usual tear drop shape to now… Well, I should say that the designer pay a homage to BMW 5 series headlight.

The rear end also got a massive treatment, for this MMC, Acura designers only left one thing, it still retains dual exhaust, and that’s it, everything else is changed. The original 3rd generation Acura RL has a large rearlights housing the turning signal, brake lights and the reverse lights. For the MMC Acura RL, the reverse lights are now separated and is put on the chrome panel on top of the name plate holder. The “flower” shaped brake lights and turn signal are now replaced with a full LED lights for both. The rear lights housing also moved slightly towards the front and a bit more curved, giving it an edgier look. The lower bumper is revised and given a crease, the muffler tips are fatter, giving it again an edgier look. The overall design is not just for show, it is claimed that at high speed, the new rear design actually reduces lift… No need for that huge ricey wings for this baby to carve the road.

On the inside, according to Temple Of VTEC reports, is that the rear seating area is enlarged. There are no definitive data or claim how much it is bigger, but probably would not be much. One poster mentioned about the rear roofline is moved further back, indicating larger seating area though. The overall design also changed, there are a lot of minute changes, you can see it at Acura website later when the car’s website is fully launched. Suffice to say, the most important things are: Larger rear seating area, better sound insulation, lots of visual changes.

And now we come into the most interesting part… The drivetrain, the engine, gear, SH-AWD system and some more. For this MMC, Acura gone the whole nine yard by offering the same engine found on the successful Acura MDX in the refreshed RL. A nice round 300 HP and 271 lb-ft of torque from a 3.7L VTEC engine will propel the car with ease. However, don’t let the MDX engine pedigree fool you, this is a revised engine with some important changes. This 3.7L V6 VTEC engine is equipped with VTEC valvetrain system for both the intake and the exhaust valve, it used to be only on the intake side. The intake manifold is a dual stage design, as can be operated in single or dual plenum manifold depending on the engine load.

As always, the car features Acura own advanced all wheel drive system, dubbed the Super Handling All Wheel Drive system or simply SH-AWD; Unique because it vectors torque to the outside rear wheels during aggressive cornering to maintain balance of the car. For the refreshed Acura RL, the computer management system seems to be updated to allow quicker respond on high twist areas.

Now for the witty commentary…

On Temple Of VTEC news post about the car, there are lots of users who complaints about the car looks. To me they are talking nonsense and more gibberish than fact. The car is basically the same car as it is 3 years ago, a refreshed model this scale is more than enough for Acura to rewrite its Acura RL saga. Before, the RL was deemed as too boring and plain looking as a true “flagship” product. I even personally called the RL as a super Accord, because dimension wise it looks like Honda Accord, it underpins the same platform, but it uses large V6 engine and snazzy all wheel drive system… Which was tested on a modified 7th generation Honda Accord.

Before the 2008 MDX was launched, Acura basically doesn’t have any flagship product to be proud of. The new MDX is the crème de la crème, it won many accolades as the best luxury SUV in America, but the RL… Well, it’s just an old man car (a reliable, boring car). With this refreshed RL model, I believe Acura can turn for the best, as it is now more daring and kind of show that the car is actually expensive. Before, well, suffice to say that the RL is looking rather… affordable. I’ll be talking about Acura history and why it’s not up there with the big dogs at separate entry.

For the haters out there, really… Don’t buy the refreshed Acura RL. Sometimes, we need to slap our loved ones to bring them out of nightmare. So please do boycott Acura RL if you (whomever you are who claims wanted to buy Acura RL but didn’t because it is ugly) doesn’t like the car, spread rumors, spread hate words and convince them to buy Infiniti or Lexus. That way, Honda/Acura would listen and make the next generation Acura RL a real killer.

P.S. Almost forgot to add some info, Acura RL = Honda Legend in Japan and Europe. So expect to see the same visual changes fo Honda Legend soon.

Temple Of VTEC original news