It’s official, Honda just pulled out of F1 racing. They said so last night during a press conference/statement from their (soon to be former) British team HQ.

Why?

The same old reason: Money.

There’s more after the jump.

Continue Reading…

Uh-oh, this is bad news.

“Honda Racing is expected to make an announcement on Friday morning UK time that it is withdrawing from grand prix racing as a works team – and possibly shuttering its team outright.”

That is huge, and unexpected news. The last figures I read, Honda was spending around 380 - 400 million a year on it’s F1 team (which has been winless apart from Jenson Button backing into the top step of the podium in Hungary a few years back).

You can couple that 380 - 400 million a year figure into one that I was just reading about Honda sales being down … what was it now, 30%? 35% At any rate, it was a huge drop off. So you put those two together and it could very well mean that people like Ross Brawn (Brawn fer’cris’sake!) could be looking for work.

Continue Reading…

When we think about mainstream family sedans, what comes to mind? Reliability? Safety? Style? Usually the first two are the answers people come up with, and rightly so since the main goal of these vehicles is to start every morning and protect the family inside. However, automakers are now trying hard to infuse some “style” into their popular products.

Take the 2008 Honda Accord EX-L with Navigation four-door sedan. Only a few years ago, this car was simple and sedate, with a face that was easily lost in the crowd. When the Accord was completely overhauled last year, Honda decided to change their previous ways and go for something a little more noticeable.

As with the 2009 Honda Pilot tested two weeks ago, you can instantly see there has been major alterations to this sedan when compared with the previous model. For one, the Accord has grown significantly in all directions and is now considered a full-size vehicle, similar to the Mercury Grand Marquis and Toyota Avalon.

The interior volume has increased from 97.7 cubic feet to 101. In addition, 2.2 inches were added to the wheelbase and 3.3 more inches in the overall length (to 110.2 and 194.3 inches, respectively). Width is up a full inch as well, and roof height is up 7/10ths of an inch.

To match the increase in size, the sheetmetal has also been turned up a notch. The Accord now has a long sloping hood that leads to a very pronounced snout. The new rectangular chrome grill is accented by two large, protruding headlamps. Below them are smaller integrated foglights.

Down the side, designers again have hidden the added length well by adding larger doors, adding a styling crease from the front fender back to the taillights, and pulling both the tail- and headlamps back into the side view. The rear end carries the crease along the rounded off trunk lid that connects the new, angular rear lamps. Continue Reading…

Every five model years or so, manufacturers rework and freshen up their vehicles to make so-called “improvements” to their vehicles. Sometimes, these are minor, subtle and positive. On the other hand, vehicles may receive more of an intensive and almost shocking change. In the case of the 2009 Honda Pilot, designers certainly went farther outside the box with this overhaul than anyone could have anticipated.

Within seconds, anyone will notice how drastic the changes were on this crossover. The eyes will first notice the massive in-your-face chrome grill surrounded by larger headlights that reside in the one-inch wider front-end. That grill is accentuated by a protruding bumper with a large lower plastic “lip” and recessed fog lights. Blending in won’t be a problem with this face, especially with that great Dark Cherry Pearl paint choice.

Walking around the side of the Pilot, you will notice the 2.9 inch stretch in the wheelbase and overall length as well as the extra inch added to the roof compared to last year’s model. This thing looks massive now! All the additional inches are well-proportioned and hidden by more aggressive fender flares, longer doors and the perfect touch of chrome along the lower door trim.

The rear end wasn’t left untouched. The back hatch and independent rear glass sit bolt upright now, with more chiseled sheetmetal accenting the thick hatch release handle, which has been marred by a tacky chrome mustache sitting above the license plate area. The taillights are now perfectly rectangular, sit vertical in the body, and have loss the cheesy altezza-like treatment. The rear bumper has also been increased in size and now holds a standard Class-III trailer hitch. Finishing off the rear end is a pair of chrome tips revealing a new dual exhaust. Continue Reading…

More interesting news from the British Motor Show comes in the form of Honda’s OSM (for Open Study Model).

Although currently billed as “just a design study” the OSM is more or less based on the will-be-produced CR-Z sports hybrid. Meaning is could/should stand a better then average chance of seeing the light of production (and hopefully, Honda will be quicker with their turnaround times), although Honda strenuously denies it.

As far as what they do have to discuss, Project Leader for OSM Andreas Sittel has this to say: “We’re trying to show that low emission cars can be attractive. There is no reason why a car that’s more environmentally friendly can’t look great too – and be sporty and fun to drive.”

And indeed why not … but what’s all this about Miatas?

Since powertrain details are sketchy, it’s really hard to say. If it’s light enough, a big engine would not be necessary, but drivetrain configuration would be of paramount importance. If the mill ain’t driving the rear wheels, it’s not a sportscar.

So, Honda has two things to do:

1 - make it rear wheel drive

2 - build it

All this from the fellows over at CarScoop.

Sponsored by Honda

Honda launched a new ad campaign for the Accord based on Skydiving. Check out the video above. The video itself doesn’t have any indication of it being from Honda, but only points us to DifficultIsWorthDoing.com, which at first just appears to be a basic blog about skydiving. Take a deeper look though (or notice the Honda logo in the header,) and you’ll see that it’s a build-up for the new Accord.

Recent posts have been showing the making of the commercial, which just aired in the UK. They pulled off a cool stunt with the skydivers spelling out “HONDA” one letter at a time: Continue Reading…