Honda Malaysia sales breakdown of hybrid models

As one of the countries which have a very good selection of IMA hybrid models and a tax exemption for hybrids, sales of IMA hybrids here has been very good. The breakdown for year to date (YTD) sales of hybrids by Honda Malaysia, as at August and for the year 2012 are approximately as follows:

Official press release : Honda CR-Z MMC, Paris Motor Show

Honda has officially announced the debut of the CR-Z MMC in the Paris Motor Show will is being held over this weekend. Basically everything that our TOV/TOVA readers whom has 'contacts' told us before were accurate and to the dot. The function of the 'S+' button, which Honda calls the 'Plus Sport' button is really a KERS like function for overtaking just like our TOV/TOVA reader from Europe first told us. Also the power increase as told to us by another reader is almost on the dot - just out by 1ps.


The official press release follows.

Official Press Release : Honda EV-STER EV concept car

Also on display at the Paris Motor Show is the EV-STER EV convertible that Honda showed at the last Tokyo Motor Show. This time Honda provided a little bit of specification; battery max power 58kW or 79ps, top speed (160kph or 100mph), charging time, and even acceleration figure. However, before you get too excited or impressed by the time given, do note that it is for the 0-60kph and not mph. 60kph is approximately 37.5mph. To give you an idea, the 1.3l Honda Jazz/Fit Hybrid with the 100ps IMA engine takes around this time to hit 60kph as well and it's a mid-10 seconds car for the 0-60mph run. 

The official Honda press release follows.

Official launch : Euro Civic 1.6l turbo diesel

civic 1.6l i-dtec

1.6 i-DTEC on Civic achieves CO₂ emissions of just 94 g/km*

Shown for the first time at Paris Motor Show, Honda has introduced a new 1.6-litre i-DTEC diesel engine in the Civic hatchback. The first engine in Europe to feature Honda’s Earth Dreams Technology series, it combines strong performance (120 PS) with CO₂ emissions of only 94 g/km*.

Official Launch : Euro Honda CR-V

Honda has officially launched the new 4th Gen CR-V for Europe. Powerplants options are a 2.0 i-VTEC (R20A), and two diesel engines - the existing 2.2l i-DTEC and a new 1.6l i-DTEC in a new FWD variant. The rear seats also fold down to create a flat floor now. The official Honda of Europe press release follows.

The new cr-v

Efficient, functional and confident

The new fourth generation CR-V makes its European debut at the Paris Motor Show 2012. Building on its success of its predecessors, the new CR-V has improved quality, practicality and refinement. For the first time in Europe, the compact SUV will be offered with a choice of both two- and four-wheel drive, while improvements to both the petrol and diesel engines have resulted in a significant reduction in CO₂ emissions. Comprehensively redesigned for the European market, the new CR-V will be built at Honda’s production facility in Swindon, UK from early September, 2012.

Official Honda Press Release for Paris Motor Show

Honda at the Paris Motor show

Honda reveals the new European CR-V at the Paris Motor Show 2012 with the announcement that the new CR-V will be offered with Honda’s new 1.6-litre i-DTEC engine. The new smaller diesel engine is the first in a series of engines to be introduced in Europe under the name of Earth Dreams Technology. The 1.6-litre i-DTEC engine will be available on the Civic later this year and the CR-V from September 2013 with production at Honda’s UK factory in Swindon.

Three interesting questions from the CEO speech on September 21st.

Honda has published a video of the presentation by Honda CEO Ito-san on September 21st on its worldwide site at world.honda.com. The link is at http://world.honda.com/news/2012/c120921CEO-Speech/video01/index.html. TOV and 'Honda Fan' contributor Daniel, after watching the entire 1hour video, heard a rather interesting question from the Q&A session after the speech that we have not seen reported elsewhere.

CR-Z MMC makes surprise appearance in Indonesia Motor Show

Eventhough Honda officially announced the debut of the CR-Z MMC for the Paris Motor Show on the 29th of this month, in a surprise move, the popular Malaysian car blog paultan.org reports from the Indonesia Motor Show of the display of an unit of the 'new' CR-Z MMC. Reports from paultan.org confirms the exterior changes to the CR-Z but the interior could not be checked out because the display car was locked. Official information from Honda Indonesia states a max power of 120ps for the MMC LEA engine and 20ps for the LiOn IMA electric motor with combined max power of 136ps for the 6MT version and 135ps for the CVT version. Max power point is at 6,600rpm and redline is 6,800rpm. These figures virtually confirms the scoop info that we saw last week. 

Meanwhile, official Honda publications like the Honda world site at world.honda.com is still announcing the 'world debut' of the CR-Z MMC at the Paris Motor Show.

Summary of CEO Speech on September 21, 2012

• In 2010, I set Honda's "Direction for the next 10 years" which is "to provide good products to our customers with speed, affordability and low CO₂ emissions." Since then, we have been devoting our full efforts in leveraging Honda's unique technologies, ideas and ingenuity to create attractive products that please our customers who purchased such products. In addition, as a manufacturer of personal mobility products, we have been proactively executing various initiatives which contribute to a significant reduction of CO₂ emissions.

Scoop photos on new CR-Z MMC : Power Comparison

TOVA reader Alan posted some photos to our TOVA Facebook (thanks Alan), the same photos being also posted on our TOV forums. It is likely these photos are taken off a japanese magazine due to the quality of the photos, as well as the layout of the last photo which seems to be more of a montage of photos. Nevertheless, these photos gives us very interesting info on the new CR-Z MMC to be launched on the 27th, just 10 days away from the date of this posting.

The first photo, which I look at in this post, is the power comparison. From this comparison, we can see that the MMC will nett power increases for the CR-Z as follows:

(A little bit) More info on the CR-Z MMC

We have received a little bit more information on the CR-Z MMC which will be launched at this coming Paris Motor Show on the 27th of this month.

Firstly, while the official Honda of Europe's press release has called it the '2013 CR-Z', we have been hearing the term 'CR-Z GT'. It would seem that there is a possibility the MMC CR-Z will be called the CR-Z GT in Europe.

Honda has already announced that the MMC CR-Z/CR-Z GT will feature increases in power of both the petrol engine and the IMA electric motor but yet still keeping the same fuel consumption and emissions. What we have heard from our source is that the actual increase in power is 12ps/hp. However we are not told if this is for the petrol engine alone or for the combined output. Even if this 12ps/hp is for the combined (engine+IMA motor) output, it still means the new MMC CR-Z/CR-Z GT will now have 136ps/hp max power, which will finally make it more than just acceptable. 

Note however that as with all 'scoop' and 'insider' info, there is no guarantee that this is correct or that this will not change when the actual final car is launched in Paris.

The photo above is from Honda of Europe's media site.

New Civic variant and Civic Type-R for Europe

For this coming Paris motorshow which will be held on the 27th of this month, Honda has officially announced the debut of the new diesel variant of the 9Gen Civic. This variant will get a 1.6l i-DTEC diesel engine rated for a max power of 120ps/hp. Honda also announced that the CO2 emission will be only 94 g/km and that the Civic i-DTEC will deliver a combined consumption of 78.5mpg (according to Euro standards).

Prior to this Honda press release, the European motoring press has been widely announcing that a new 9Gen Civic Type-R  will be debuted this motor show. This new Euro-CTR was announced to be getting the 1.6 turbo-charged RSeries engine which Honda is using in the WTCC (World Touring Car Championship) Civic which was just launched. However, it is clear that the motoring press are mistaken.

A suggestion from someone with contacts inside Honda is that the European motoring press has mistaken Honda's information, thinking that Honda is talking about the new Euro CTR whereas they had been talking about the WTCC Civic instead.

Nevertheless, the same person has informed TOV/TOVA that the Euro CTR is in fact real, and that Honda of Europe is still pushing to launch it in the time frame of the new few months. This new Euro CTR will come in the form of a 5-door hatch and will have a 2.0l K-Series engine with a 7,500rpm redline and a max power rating of 220ps/hp.

The British market is credited as the primary driver for the return of the Euro Civic Type-R and this car will be built in Honda's Swindon plant in England.

The photo above is the new Civic 1.6i-DTEC and is supplied by Honda of Europe.

Paris Motor Show

The Paris motor show will be held on the 27th of September (i.e., this month at the time of this post). The show promises the debut of a few cars of interest to Honda enthusiasts. Top of the list will be the CR-Z MMC, also called the '2013 CR-Z'. This MMC promises some minor, yet very important updates to the CR-Z which has been getting some very good, yet also some negative reception. The new 4Gen CR-V which has already been launched to great success in the U.S. will debut in this show as well. And finally, but not least, the new diesel Civic with a 1.6l i-DTEC engine will also debut in this show. The official press release from Honda of Europe follows.

We also have a little bit of extra details on the CR-Z MMC and the Civic which we will be publishing on different posts afterwards.

USDM 9G Accord reviews now appearing...

A week after its official launch, U.S. reviews of the USDM 9Gen Accord are now appearing on print and around the internet. Unlike the 9Gen Civic, reviews of this new Accord are generally very good to excellent, underlining the fact that Honda have made another great effort for this perennial best seller. 

0-60mph in the Honda CR-Z 6MT

I just put up my article on 0-60mph and 0-100kph testing on the Honda CR-Z 6MT. The article can be reached via http://asia.vtec.net. If you are a CR-Z 6MT owner who have done similar testing, would be interesting to hear from you and compare results. 

Please do read our disclaimer on standing start acceleration testing.

Honda CR-Z scores first result podium in Super GT

The Honda CR-Z has scored its first podium in the Super GT championship, with a P3 in this weekend's race at the Fuji circuit.

Racing under 'Team Mugen' as car number 16 in the GT300 class, the Honda CR-Z is now in position 15 in the team's ranking table and position 13 in the driver's ranking table. 

Note that the CR-Z only entered this year's season from round 4 onwards on July at the Sugo circuit. Currently the drivers are Hideki Mutoh and Daisuke Nakajima and the car is officially the Mugen CR-Z GT.

For those who are wondering, this CR-Z does not use the 1.5l LEA IMA hybrid engine. According to information on supergt.net, it is powered by a J35A 3.5l V6 engine delivering circa 300ps.

'New' Honda CR-Z coming this month !

For the JDM, Honda has officially announced the launch of a new CR-Z variant on the 27th of September (this month). The official 'announcement' is on the Honda domestic website http://www.honda.co.jp/CR-Z/new/. This announcement actually doesn't really say anything much, with only 3 teaser photos and the official date of launch. The three photos suggests that the 'new' or MMC CR-Z will get LED daylight running lights (DRLs), a new wheel design and a button on the dashboard labelled 'S+'. What does this 'S+' button do ? There is nothing else on the Honda.co.jp page.

However, one TOV reader/supporter reports that the main items of significance introduced in this facelift, or MMC, are a 'slightly more powerful' engine and special "push-the-button-to-the-boost" feature. This 'push button' seems like the 'S+' button above. The information suggests that this button offers a function like the F1-KERS, and gives the option to consume maximum of electrical power in short time. However, no other details are available at this time. 

It is not known if or when CR-Z's sold outside of Japan will get this facelift.

UPDATE :
There is a suggestion from another TOV forumer who has 'credentials', that this MMC will introduce the new '2nd generation' IMA powerplant for the CR-Z. This is the new 'Earth Dreams' or ED engine with uprated IMA motor and the Lithium Ion battery pack. The ED engine have just been debuted with the launch of the new 9Gen Accord in the U.S. and it would make sense that ED will now start making its way to the other models. 

It is also noted that on the same date (Sept 27th), the CR-Z MMC will also be launched in Europe. According to the European press, the same day will also see the launch of the new 9G Civic Type-R for Europe, which they are guessing will have the new ED 1.6l turbo-charged engine from the HPD (Honda Performance Division) racing Civic. 

Finally, do bear in mind that there have been rumours of a turbocharged CR-Z in the works, a rumour which I was able to confirm as real with one Honda insider I had contact with at one time. So there was also a suggestion that perhaps the European press have made a mistake or was misled, and the MMC CR-Z will see the introduction of the much talked about 'hot' CR-Z that the CR-Z LPL told me in person, that will be launched by Honda. I.e. this MMC will see a 1.6l turbocharged CR-Z which some rumours claims will have a max power of 180hp.

Sept 27th is but 3 weeks away from today. I will be trying to get more info so stay tuned and check back this post often, or go to TOVA facebook at http://www.facebook.com/TOVAsia for notifications of updates to this post.

New 9Gen Accord announced in the U.S.

AHM or American Honda Motors has announced the launch of the new 9th generation Accord for the USDM. This new 9Gen is significant in that it is the first Honda model to feature Honda's new 'Earth Dreams' or ED powerplant comprising a new generation of direct-injection engines and new transmissions including a CVT featuring Honda's Grades Logic Control (GLC).

The U.S. continues to get a three variant petrol engined line-up comprising two versions of the new ED 2.4l direct-injection 4-cylinder engine delivering 185 and 189hp, 5hp higher and 1hp lower than the equivalent variants on the outgoing 8th generation. However, fuel economy is significantly improved with the 2.4l ED engines delivering an EPA of up to 36mpg (highway). The USDM 3.5l V6 ED engine now delivers 278hp and delivers an EPA of up to 34mpg (highway). New 6 speed manual and 6 speed automatic transmissions complement the new CVT.

Other significant change involves the replacement of the double-wishbone front suspension with a MacPherson strut suspension though the rear suspension remains the independent multi-link. Like the new 9Gen Civic, the 9Gen Accord comes loaded with features in line with the demands of the new modern generation of car buyers, with features like blind spot mitigation camera (for the passenger side of the car), Bluetooth, USB connectivity, smart (keyless) entry and engine start/stop, and so forth.

The complete AHM press release is available on TOV at http://www.vtec.net/news/news-item?news_item_id=1091517.

For the ASEAN market, the 9Gen Accord is expected to hit our shores next year. Our version will be very similar to this USDM version though it is not known at this moment if our Accords will also receive the new generation Earth Dreams engines and transmissions.

Next Review : Honda CR-Z 6MT

I just put up a follow-up report on my taking the Honda CR-Z 6MT on the 'Genting Run', an drive up to the hilltop resort of 'Genting Highlands' that offers a series of tight hairpins. This is a very nice and interesting drive and puts a premium on the performance of a car, made the more exciting by two 'encounters' on the way up and down respectively.

The review is up at Temple of VTEC Asia.