Recap: Cars Launched in Jan 2015

New cars of India

Indian auto industry welcomed the new year with some important car launches in the month of January 2015. Tata came out with highly anticipated Bolt hatchback which is being touted as the comeback vehicle for Tata Motors. Datsun India stretched it small car Go to compete in the emerging MPV segment as Datsun Go+ against Maruti-Suzuki Ertiga and Honda Mobilio.

In the high end luxury car segment Mercedes Benz launched its smallest sedan CLA class which goes head on against Audi A3. Apart from this lot of car makers came out with new variants of their existing model. Toyota increased the heat in SUV market with launch of 4X4 automatic transmission for Fortuner. Maruti Suzuki added Z+ trim to its mid size sedan Ciaz and Mahindra introduced S4+ and S4+4WD variant for Scorpio SUV. Not to be left behind, Honda upgraded Brio and Amaze models with Audio Video Navigation. This majorly sums up the January buzz but watchout as there is lot to happen this month.

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Survey: Honda Cars Stronger Than BMW & Merc

Honda cars have been found to be the best equipped to deal with potholes, saving drivers thousands of rupees in repairs each year, according to a new research by Potholes.co.uk. These results are based on warranty claims resulting from pothole damage in UK and gives out the names of top 10 best and worst susceptible car brands. According to the research, after Honda, the most ‘pothole-proof’ manufacturers are Toyota and Hyundai, with less than 2% of their cars suffering axle and suspension damage attributable to potholes and other road defects.

Chrysler came out as the most unreliable against potholes followed by hot shots like Land Rover, Jaguar, Mercedes-Benz and BMW. These premium brands are known world over as being the manufacturers of some of the best cars and off road SUVs including Presidential vehicles. It’s difficult to imagine that those fancy low profile tires and large, expensive wheels that we see on luxury vehicles with their bulging sidewalls are not really strong enough to deal with what our roads have to offer. This survey doesn’t sound promising for their known credentials.

'We've found some cars have an uncanny ability to absorb the jolts from even the most severe road craters, while others aren't so resilient,' said Duncan McClure Fisher of Warranty Direct. According to their calculations in an average year, there is a 6 per cent chance of any car suffering such damage.

Since the government continues to struggle to solve the pothole problem, we consumers can at least be smart about our vehicle of choice. Scroll down to see the ranking compiled by potholes.co.uk.

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Top 10 Most Resilient Make Damage Rate Honda 1.4% Toyota 1.5% Hyundai 1.7% Nissan 2.0% Kia 2.1% Mitsubishi 2.2% Mini 3.0% Suzuki 3.1% Ford 3.4% Mazda 3.4%

Top 10 Least Resilient Make Damage Rate Chrysler 12.2% Smart 10.6% Mercedes 10.4% Land Rover 10.1% Jaguar 9.4% Saab 8.5% Fiat 7.4% BMW 6.8% SEAT 6.6% Vauxhall 6.4%

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Why Honda Pledge To Destroy 1,055 New Cars?

Quality first always - the Honda way. In a bid to reassure its customers worldwide that no vehicle damaged in Thailand’s recent flood crisis will ever be sold, Honda has started the process of scrapping and destroying a total of 1055 cars. The cars include 217 units of Honda Brio, 213 Jazz, 353 City, 150 Civic, 91 Accord, 30 CR-V and one imported Freed. In order to ensure transparency, the vehicle identification numbers of all the cars will be made public on Honda's (Thailand) website www.honda.co.th .

In a statement, executive vice president of Honda Automobile Thailand Pitak Pruittisarikorn said, “We will not sell any of the damaged cars to customers, or sell or reuse any of the parts. This is to create confidence amongst our Honda customers that Honda will abide to its credibility of the automobile's quality control".

The decision to scrap the cars has caused many to question why Honda did not attempt to at least salvage some of the parts, or possibly donate the cars. The simple answer is that Honda realized that an influx of flood-damaged cars into the market could potentially cause more harm than it would be worth to the brand’s reputation down the road – especially if people choose to re-sell the car and fail to disclose the car’s past. Furthermore, if the automaker attempted to salvage certain parts of the car they would likely forfeit major write-offs as well.

On-site demonstrations outside Honda’s Thailand plant showed the step by step process of how the flood damaged cars will be made completely unusable. The specialist workers hired by Honda to scrap the cars first drained the remaining liquids from the engine and then dissembled the car by delicate steps. Finally, the skeleton of the car was lifted by a crane into a gigantic mobile pressing machine which turned it into a compressed cube for recycling.

The process of decommissioning and scrapping all the flood damaged vehicles is said to be done in an environmentally-responsible way and is expected to be completed within one month.

Flashback: The Honda automobile plant in Rojana Industrial Park in Ayutthaya Province, Thailand was under heavy flooding in early October that brought production to a halt and aerial pictures showed hundreds of new cars submerged in muddy water. The waters have since receded significantly but many areas still face a major clean-up operation. Production is yet to resume at the factory.

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Video: Honda Demonstrates The Process Of Scrapping It's Car

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2012 Honda City Facelift: What's New

Putting an end to the immense speculation on the status of the new City, Honda recently launched the facelifted version. The refreshed model is similar to the model launched in Thailand a few months back. Now the new 2012 Honda City comes in more colors, more variants and yes with more style and better looks. Mechanicals are left undisturbed. Cosmetic touches have been given to front and rear as well as interiors to instill energy into the aging segment leader. Honda has also added cruise control and sunroof to the equipment list along with a nice Eco Meter that promotes light-footed acceleration. Lets take a detailed look at what all has been added to the new updated version of City.

Read More On Honda:
Survey: Honda Cars Stronger Than BMW & Merc
Why Honda Pledge To Destroy 1,055 New Cars?

Honda City facelift exterior additions

• New chrome grille further enhancing the premium look
• Restyled front & rear bumper making City 20mm longer
• New tail lights imitating the concept version
• 10 spoke alloys that look Accord'ish
• Ground clearance increased by 5mm

Honda City facelift interior additions

• New fabric seats
• Center control panel with chrome bits
• Chrome coated door handles.
• Blue backlit meter

Honda City facelift extras

• Sunroof
• Cruise control
• Turn indicators on ORVM
• Introduction of Corporate edition for value customers
• Two new colors – Carnelian pearl red and Sparkling brown metallic

Honda City facelift price (ex-showroom New Delhi)

• Corporate Edition – 6.99 lakh
• E – 7.70 lakh
• S – 8.20 lakh
• V MT (Manual Transmission) – 8.70 lakh
• V AT (Automatic Transmission) – 9.42 lakh
• V MT with sunroof and leather seats – 9,50,500 rupees
• V AT with sunroof and leather seats – 10,22,800 rupees

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Photo Gallery: New Facelifted 2012 Honda City

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Launch: 2009 Honda City Hits Thailand: Photos-Details

Honda has made the official debut of its new updated economy car, the next gen Honda City. To begin with, 2009 City will only be available in Thailand. But within a few months time it will be released in India, China, Philippines, Malaysia, Pakistan and other Asian markets. The Thai version of Honda's latest City will sell for 524,000 to 694,000 baht, which is about 15,000 US dollars. It comes with a 1.5-liter i-VTEC engine that makes 120 hp of horsepower. It is available in five speed manual and automatic transmissions.

See 09 Model Honda City Picture Gallery Below.

Visually, Honda City is much better looking than the previous generation City and thus will have a much wider appeal. The front end has a strong resemblance to the Honda FCX Clarity. It has a huge front grille that merge seamlessly with the new stylized headlights which incidently look like they were taken from the Altis. At the rear the short bootlid with an integrated spoiler gives the car a stout BMW'ish look. Rear-lamps have a nice design but not everyone would say the same about it.

The exterior dimensions of the new Honda City are - 4,395mm long, 1,695mm wide and 1,470mm tall. This makes it 5mm longer and wider but 25mm shorter in height. Thus unlike the tall boy looks of the previous model, the new City gives an impression of being a much more proportional sedan with a sportier stance.

On the inside is a simple but elegantly designed dash, well laid out instrument cluster and an aluminium finish center console. There are loads of storage spaces that include 7 cup/bottle holders. The steering wheel is now adjustable for reach as well as height. It features paddle shift controls and integrated audio controls. Cars audio system now comes with an iPod compatible USB connector. The rear seats are placed higher than the ones at the front and can be folded in a 60/40 split. Everything is very well put together, as you would expect from Honda.

The fifth-gen Honda City comes in three models variants- S, V, SV. The City S and City V have dual-tone beige interiors while the top-end City SV gets the exclusive dark trims. For customers in Thailand the car will be available in six colours: Habanero Red Pearl, Deep Lapis Blue Metallic, Alabaster Metallic, Polished Metal Metallic, Bold Beige Metallic and Crystal Black Pearl.

Source: Pakwheels
Read More On: Honda City

Photo Gallery: Latest Thai Version Honda City Official Pictures. Click Pics To Enlarge.


2009 Honda City Photo Gallery: Pictures Taken From Brochure. Click Pics To Enlarge.


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2009 Honda Insight To Be World's Cheapest Hybrid

Honda will debut its Toyota Pirus challenger, the new Honda Insight as a concept car at the 2008 Paris Motor Show next month. Touted as being the least expensive hybrid in the world, the Insight hatchback is going to hit the market in 2009 with a possible base price of $18,500. It will share styling cues with the Honda FCX Clarity fuel cell vehicle as can be seen from Honda's official pictures for the upcoming concept.

The Insight Concept defines a new stage in the evolution of hybrid technology by utilizing a more cost-efficient version of Honda's Integrated Motor Assist™ (IMA™) hybrid technology. The production Insight will be offered as a five-door, five-passenger hatchback. Numerous technologies, including a function to assist customers in achieving more fuel efficient driving habits, will be applied to achieve a further improvement in real world fuel efficiency.

Along with the Civic Hybrid, the new vehicle will be produced at an expanded hybrid vehicle production line at the Suzuka factory in Japan. The Insight is expected to have annual global sales of 200,000 units per year - approximately 100,000 in North America. Following the launch of the new Insight, Honda also plans to introduce another unique sporty hybrid vehicle based on the CR-Z, first shown at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show.

The original Honda Insight was introduced in December 1999 as America's first gas-electric hybrid car. The first vehicle to break the 70-mpg fuel economy barrier, Insight was designed from the ground up to demonstrate the potential for fuel-economy in a two-seater subcompact automobile.

Source: Hybrid Cars
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Photo Gallery: Honda Insight Concept Hybrid High-Res Pictures.

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Spy Video: 2011 Honda/Acura NSX, 3 Minutes Of Fun

We recently showed you a small clipping of 2011 Acura NSX scorching the Ring. Well to follow it up, we have the full 3 minutes of spy video footage of Acura NSX for your pleasure. Taste it, love it, hear it, enjoy it..do whatever you need to but don't miss it.

Source: YouTube
Read More On: Honda NSX



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2010-2011 Honda/Acura NSX First Spy Video.
2011 Honda/Acura NSX Prototype Fast Catching On Nissan GT-R.
Honda's 2011 Acura NSX Sportscar Spied In Germany.

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Spy Photo: 2009 Honda/Acura TL Spied Again

Honda's high volume sedan, the Acura TL has again been spied on. This time its the guys from Automotive Traveler who caught TL prototype undergoing hot weather testing at California's Mojave Desert. The photos are much clearer than before and the TL prototype wears less of camo over its bright red colored body.

The Honda/Acura TL spy photo that you see here reveal what has been expected for long now, that is just like Acura's 2009 RL and TSX, the 4th generation TL will also get the triangular wide-tooth front grill. This angular theme is further carried to the rear of the vehicle giving the trunk-lid a cut inverted triangle shape (see photos). Such a bold and aggressive treatment to a high-selling model can be quite a risk.

It's still not known what is under the hood of the upcoming Acura TL but it won't be wrong to hope for the 3.7-liter V6 from the MDX CUV mated to a six speed, manumatic DSG gearbox. Further the 09 model TL is expected to switch from front-wheel drive to the Super-Handling All-Wheel-Drive (SH-AWD) like the one used in Acura RL and RDX. But its quite possible that new TL range will consist of two models, one featuring FWD and the top model TL Type-S getting SH-AWD. And given Honda's emphasis on good fuel economy along with low emissions, TL engine should employ the company's cylinder-deactivation feature that has successfully worked in the new Accord V6.

We'll end our list of possiblities here and will leave you with the spy photo of Acura TL undergoing some tough desert condition testing below.

Source: Automotive Traveler
Read More On: Honda/Acura TL

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Update On New 2009 Acura TL.
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2010-2011 Honda/Acura NSX First Spy Video

Earlier we got you the details & spy photos (here & here) of the upcoming 2001 Honda/Acura NSX supercar prototype that will make its debut in 2010. Now to spice up your day even more we've got you the video of the original NSX's successor being tested at the Brünnchen section of the Nürburgring Nordschleife in Germany.

Source: BridgeToGantry
Read More On: Honda NSX

Spy Video: 2010-2011 Honda/Acura NSX Lapping The Ring.


Related Posts:
2011 Honda/Acura NSX Prototype Fast Catching On Nissan GT-R.
Honda's 2011 Acura NSX Sportscar Spied In Germany.
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2011 Honda/Acura NSX Prototype Fast Catching On Nissan GT-R

It is being reported that the 2011 Honda NSX (called Acura NSX in US) prototype that we showed you earlier (click here) is said to be scorching the Ring at an unofficial lap time of 7 minutes and 37 seconds. Now since this supercar is being touted as Honda's answer to Nissan GT-R and upcoming Lexus LF-A, there is a high possibility that these numbers might be true.

Although beating the 2009 Nissan GT-R's officially time of 7:29 is a tall order, you need to keep in mind that even the GT-R prototype clocked lap times similar to the NSX prototype. But still Honda need to keep in mind that the development of the Nissan GT-R V-Spec is already underway and it is expected to set a much faster ring time.

According to CarTribe the Honda's new Acura NSX will be powered by front-mid mounted i-VTEC V10 which will scream to 9,000rpm while making around 550bhp. Upcoming NSX seems to have an more powerful powerplant than GT-R but it is still two years away from production. With rivals like Nissan fast working on even more powerful versions of their supercars, 2011 Acura NSX will need some kind of rocket boosters to compete against Lexus LF-A, Nissan GT-R, Porsche 911 Turbo, Ferrari F430 and Lamborghini Gallardo.

Source: CarTribe
Read More On: Honda NSX

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Honda's 2011 Acura NSX Sportscar Spied In Germany.
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Honda's 2011 Acura NSX Sportscar Spied In Germany

The new spy photos of upcoming 2010-2011 Acura NSX shot at Nürburgring in Germany finally confirms that Honda has begun testing pre-production prototypes of original NSX replacement. Looking at the spy picture of NSX, you can make out that many aspects of the controversial Acura Advanced Sports Car Concept have been incorporated in this prototype design, while some of the more revolutionary but not so practical style elements have been shown the door.

It good news that Honda has atlast managed to arrive at a definate design direction that it would like to take shape in next generation Acura NSX. We all got to see what was being planned for NSX when the Acura Advanced Sports Car Concept was shown at 2007 Detroit Auto Show. But due to largely negative response to the concepts styling, Honda was forced to abandon its original plans which delayed the NSX project.

Despite the drawbacks, engineers were able to continue testing the new mechanicals for the car by using test mules made with body panels from the S2000. The original Acura NSX sportscar had a mid-engine layout but when new NSX finally makes its debut in 2010 as a 2011 model it will be powered by a front-mounted, V10 engine. It is expected to come equipped with a new high-performance version of Acura’s ‘Super Handling All-Wheel Drive’ (SH-AWD) system.

There has been some discussion of a possible four-wheel steering system (4WS) for the upcoming NSX, but according to Honda the SH-AWD system would achieve most of the benefits of 4WS without the added complexity.

Source: MotoAuthorty
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Honda Unveils 'Combined ABS' Brakes For Sports Motorcycle

Honda Announces World's First Electronically-Controlled 'Combined ABS' for Super Sport Bikes.
Honda has announced the world's first electronically-controlled "Combined ABS" for Super Sport motorcycles, aimed at combining ABS and CBS systems into one system that applies the basic advantages of both, while specifically addressing the requirements of a Super Sport context.

In order to achieve this, the particular characteristics of Super Sport bikes, such as short wheelbase, are taken into account. The system also operates without interference to sports riding, and with an emphasis on maintaining full rider control.

The system consists of an electronically controlled combined "brake by wire" system with an innovative stroke simulator. Direct motor control ensures precise operation of the ABS. The components are divided into several smaller units so there are more, but smaller units than in previous systems.

The system's effectiveness is due to four main factors:

1. Electronic control of the CBS, allowing more advanced control of brake force. This provides a more sensitive distribution of brake force over both wheels.

2. Measurement of rider input force on each lever. The ideal brake force on both wheels is generated accordingly, providing optimum distribution and minimising vehicle body reaction.

3. An "ABS modulator" which ensures late triggering of ABS, and smooth ABS intervention.

4. Small size meaning that the system's components can be well integrated in the motorcycle's package. Thus mass-centralisation, a key feature for Super Sport bikes, is supported.

All the basic ABS and CBS functions are provided, including the prevention of wheel lock, improved balance and easy operation. This is achieved without any compromise to stability during ABS operation. Pitching is minimised so that the bike keeps its normal position. Overall, sport riding performance is uninterrupted - cornering feel remains the same and controllability is enhanced.

Source: Honda
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