HONDA

Honda CR-Z Mugen: All you Need to Know about Honda’s Hottest Hybrid Yet 

We’ve already shared initial information and a video on the Mugen-fettled CR-Z that Honda is about to launch at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in July, but today, the Japanese carmaker came out with all the juicy details, as well as more photos of the sporty hybrid concept. According to company’s European division, the CR-Z Mugen sets out to prove that hybrid cars can be exciting to drive, with the one-off special producing “Civic Type R-like performance” while also remaining true to the original, eco-friendly character of the run-of-the-mill CR-Z.
Colin Whittamore from Mugen Euro explains the philosophy behind the creation of the CR-Z Mugen:
“We wanted a car that has genuine performance available at the touch of a button, but can perform just like a standard CR-Z and offer good fuel economy when the driver wishes. For that reason, we’ve kept the three driving modes, so the driver can select “eco” or “normal” to switch to economy and low emissions for daily driving, but press the Mugen button for the full-blown weekend-warrior settings”.
The CR-Z Mugen keeps the regular model’s IMA electric motor and the 1.5-litre gasoline engine, the latter being rebuilt with upgraded and strengthened internal components. And then there’s of course the addition of the Mugen iCF system, which stands for Integrated Centrifugal Forced-induction and works with the electric motor-engine combination.
As a result, the Mugen edition delivers a 50%+ increase in power and torque over the standard model, with maximum output reaching 200-horsepower and peak torque 215 Nm (158.6 lb-ft).
With a “mid-tune engine”, as Mugen’s engineers put it, the hot CR-Z’s 0-100 km/h (0-62 mph) is close to the Civic Type R’s time of 6.6 seconds. With the final “stage 1” specs, and a 50 kg reduction in weight from the chassis, it is expected to be even faster (final figures are not yet available).
And all this comes without sacrificing fuel economy; despite the remapped IMA system, the CR-Z Mugen still delivers an average consumption of less than 5.6 litres/100 km (42mpg US or 50.4mpg UK) in “eco” mode, to less than 8.0 litres/100 km (29.4mpg US or 35.3mpg UK) in “Mugen” mode.
Even though the electric motor delivers less than 20-horses, it does so instantly by generating maximum torque between 1,000-1,500 rpm which, in contrast to the normal car, does not drop off after this point.
However, increasing power alone isn’t enough if you want to create a sports car. Thus, Mugen’s engineers widened the car’s front and rear tracks and fitted stiffer 5-step adjustable dampers and a limited slip differential to maximize traction. The CR-Z Mugen stops courtesy of larger brake discs and 4-pot calipers.
The team also took care of the CR-Z’s looks with Mugen front and rear under spoilers, sides skirts and a rear wing, carbon fibre bonnet and doors as well as 17-inch forged alloy Mugen GP wheels.
In the interior, there are Recaro sports seats, a different gear knob and a carbon rear view mirror cover, but your attention will be instantly drawn by the addition of three gauges that display water and oil temperature and pressure.
During the presentation, Honda’s people were asked some interesting questions, which you can read below:

1. Will there be any further production?
At this time this car is a one-off and there are no plans in place for further production. However the feedback we receive today, and over the coming weeks/months may suggest there is a commercially viable market for it.
2. How much did the car cost?
This particular car was built as a one-off and the development and build costs are naturally very high. In terms of actual figures we are not likely to disclose but it is safe to say that it is well into six figures.
3. How much would (any) future cars cost?
Again, there are no plans in place therefore there is no figure. But any future price would reflect the actual build specification. Part of the feedback we would expect to receive would undoubtedly give an indication of what the market would expect or be willing to pay.
4. What’s next?
For this car there is the public debut at Rockingham; beyond that it will be entirely up to HUK how they propose to use the car. For Mugen we will continue to develop both the car and particularly thepowertrain as it is the beginning of the road for us in that regard and as we find out more about the limitations and potential etc we can make decisions on how to deal with them.
The statements that this car makes is that:
• It is possible to have your cake and eat it.
• The principle economic and ecological reasons for buying a hybrid car can be retained without giving up all the fun.
• Hybrid cars can be “tuned”
• The future of tuned cars can not only embrace but also exploit the new technologies of hybrid cars.

Honda Launches New Fit Shuttle Small MPV in Japan

After briefly postponing the presentation of its all-new Fit Shuttle due to a variety of problems that arose from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, Honda on Thursday officially launched its mini MPV. While keeping the five-seat layout of the regular Fit (called Jazz in Europe), the Shuttle is longer and taller, with the extra space benefiting both the rear passengers and the cargo area.
The more practical version of the Fit is offered in two flavors, the base model powered by a conventional 1.5-liter i-VTEC four-cylinder gasoline engine and a hybrid variant combining a 1.3-liter gasoline unit to a 10 KW electric motor.
The hybrid model is available only with front-wheel drive and a CVT, while the regular Fit Shuttle can be ordered either with front-wheel drive and a CVT or with all-wheel drive and 5-speed automatic transmission.
Pricing of the Japan-only Fit Shuttle starts at ¥1,610,000 (~US$20,030), with the hybrid model commanding ¥1,810,000 (~US$22,500).

And the Unluckiest Car in Britain is…the Honda FR-V 

Well, the question and the answer have already been given to you in the title, so let us elaborate for a moment. A UK-based car insurance price comparison website called “Confused.com” conducted a study to find out which vehicle make and model had the highest accident rates in Britain in the last five years. The company notes that the statistics you’re about to read show only a snapshot of accident-related claims made by owners of a particular make and model of vehicle. According to the results, the Honda FR-V, a compact 6-seater minivan marketed in Europe and Japan from 2004 to 2009, topped the list with 2,529 owners of the model making 466 accident claims in the past five years, which is equal to a claim rate of 18.4 per cent, or close to one in five.
The runner up for the unluckiest vehicle in Britain is Volvo's XC90, as out of 3,886 drivers who bought their insurance through the site, 619 of them or 15.9 percent made claims for accidents. The third place goes to the Lexus RX with a claim rate of 15.5 per cent (574 claims out of 3,701 drivers), followed by the Mazda5 (15.3 per cent, or 373 out of 2,431).
The Honda Jazz and CR-V, Volkswagen Touran, Hyundai Santa, Toyota Rav and the Mazda3, all with a rate of around one accident claim for every seven vehicles insured through the website’s insurers, complete the top 10 list.
On the other side of the spectrum, the car least likely to be involved in accident claims was the Mazda2 diesel, as there were only nine claims out of a total of 1,076 owners in the past five years, which brings the rate to less than one percent. Oddly enough, the Nissan Skyline and the Ford Focus RS joined the Fiat Cinquecento as the runner ups for first place with a little over 1 percent claims rate.
Commenting on the results, Confused.com's head of car insurance, Gareth Kloet said: "Car accidents are rarely a result of mechanical failures: they are more often caused by human error or just bad fortune. It could be that drivers of this model happen to be more careless or reckless than other motorists. Or it could simply be that this group of road users has been particularly unlucky in the period when the data was collected."

Honda Patents New 2012 Civic Sedan and Coupe Designs in Europe 

 

A peek through the European patent office files revealed images of Honda’s freshly launched in North America, 2012 Civic in both four-door sedan and two-door coupe guise. Given that the European market will get its own, bespoke version of the Civic, chances are that Honda simply wanted to cover its back like most of the competition just in case another automaker (we are looking towards you China) got any crazy ideas. However, it is possible that Honda will offer the four-door saloon model in certain European countries to compete against the Volkswagen Jetta. With the exception of one version of the Civic sedan seen in this set of images and which features slightly modified taillights with additional strips that extend towards the license plate holder, there are no other differences compared to the North American Civic.
The European version of Honda’s compact model will make its world premiere at the upcoming Frankfurt Motor Show in September. It will be available in five-door and three-door body styles, while the Japanese automaker has also confirmed the development of a smaller displacement turbo diesel engine that will fit right under the current 2.2-liter i-DTEC unit. 

Honda Canada Hacked: 250,000+ Customers Affected By Security Breach 

Less than a month after Sony’s Playstation Network was compromised by hackers seeking personal information, a similar mishap has struck the Canadian arm of Honda / Acura. In a notice to its customers, the Japanese automaker revealed: “The incident involved the unauthorized access of information as held in our records in 2009, specifically name, address, Vehicle Identification Number (VIN), and in a small number of cases, Honda Financial Services account numbers.”
It is believed that as many as 283,321 have been affected by the security breach. Honda Canada Executive VP Jerry Chenkin released a statement saying: “The information was limited and is not typically used for the purposes of identity theft or fraud. We would like to sincerely apologize to our Canadian customers for this incident. Honda and Acura are working diligently to protect our customers' personal information and improve our data security procedures on an ongoing basis.”
Honda / Acura notified The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada and set up a hotline to ease customer concerns. Customers are being notified by mail and have been warned of possible third-party abuse of their details:
"We do not recommend that customers take any specific action at this time, other than being alert for marketing campaigns from third parties that reference your ownership of a Honda vehicle. Honda does not share its customer information with unauthorized third parties and does not contact customers asking for financial information."
You know, except when said third parties hack in and take it…

First Photos of Honda’s Hot CR-Z Mugen, Early Tests Show better Performance than Civic Type R 

Honda's sporty-looking CR-Z hybrid will finally get the performance to back its looks, as the Japanese carmaker teamed up with its tuning partner Mugen Euro to develop a high-performance version of the hybrid model. As we wrote earlier this year, the car will be unveiled at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in July, but until then, you can take a look at the first official photos of the car to see if they match the sketches released by Honda two months ago. The Japanese company says development of the CR-Z Mugen is on track, with “performance figures already looking promising”. Honda revealed that early tests with a prototype car based on a standard CR-Z and a mid-tune engine have given 0-60 mph (96 km/h) sprint times around that of the European market Civic Type R (6.6 seconds). Later on, Mugen increased output by another 15 percent and reduced the chassis' weight by 50 kilograms, so that overall performance is expected to be even better than the Type R's.
The car will feature modifications to both the 1.5-liter i-VTEC petrol engine and the Honda IMA system in order to boost power and torque. Mugen Euro didn't reveal any output figures, but referred to the fuel consumption, deeming it encouraging.
"We've retained the three driving modes from the standard car and economy ranges from 50+mpg (41.6 mpg US) in 'eco' mode to mid-30 mpg (29 mpg US) when tapping into the supercharged power in a special 'Mugen' mode," said Colin Whittamore from Mugen Euro.
Engine and hybrid system aside, the CR-Z Mugen will also benefit from upgrades to the brakes and suspension, as well as from using lightweight components such as a carbon fiber bonnet and forged alloys to lower the overall mass. As the pictures show, the CR-Z Mugen sports a new body kit with upgraded front and rear bumpers, plus a rear wing and diffuser to improve aerodynamics.
For the time being, the CR-Z Mugen is treated as a pure concept study, but as Honda has shown in the recent past with the 240HP Civic Type R Mugen in 2009, there’s a good chance we may see a limited production run in the very near future. 

Honda President Says NSX Successor Back on Track, May Use a Hybrid Drivetrain 

The Shanghai Auto Show brought some exciting news for Honda fans as the Japanese automaker revealed plans for the development of a new sports car that will be the spiritual successor to the iconic Honda NSX (Acura NSX in North America). Speaking on the sidelines of the show, Honda Motor Company president, Takanobu Ito, said the new car won't feature the V10 engine that had been planned for the next NSX, as the company scrapped this project back in 2008, during the global financial crisis. Ito told reporters that the future NSX would be exhilarating to drive but also environmentally friendly. “That's the kind of sports car we want to make. We are working very hard on it,” Ito was quoted as saying by Autonews.
The Honda official didn't offer additional details on the sports car or a timeline for its launch. However, a Honda spokesman said the car is expected to use an electric motor to give the gasoline engine a boost, much like in the case of the CR-Z sport hybrid. But unlike the latter, the NSX successor will be positioned as a high-performance hybrid vehicle.
Initial plans for an NSX successor were cancelled by former Honda president Takeo Fukui, who justified the move then as a cost-saving measure. The car was expected to have a front-mounted V10 engine developing at least 500 horsepower. The drivetrain ended up being used by the Honda HSV-010 GT racecar, the racing variant of the never-to-be-produced NSX V10.
The original NSX was powered by a mid-mounted V6 engine producing 270 horsepower (with a 5-speed manual gearbox). The NSX went out of production in late 2005 after a 14-year long career.