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.

4Gen CR-V to debut in Japan Dec 2nd

Following the U.S launch, the new 4Gen CR-V will debut in the JDM end of this week, on December 2nd 2011. The JDM model features a 2.0l version in addition to the 2.4l version of the U.S. model. This new 2.0l  version comes in FWD and is mated to a CVT/MMT gearbox which is also equipped with a torque converter. For the JDM, the 2.4l version offers 10kW or 20ps higher power and comes with a 5AT.

For Asia, the JDM 2.0l version will form the basis for our model. However, its launch schedule is expected to be delayed and much depends on the progress Honda makes in recovering their research facility at Ayutthaya Thailand.

For more details of the JDM CR-V, read the article at Honda's worldwide website:

http://world.honda.com/news/2011/4111128All-New-CR-V/index.html

Case Study : How accurate are scoops ?

Scoops of information and especially photos of new to be launched cars are the 'in' thing amongst automotive media fighting to be recognized as 'The' media to go to for information nowadays. In Japan, there are even magazines dedicated to scoops only. Amongst these, Mag-X (of Japan) has from my experience been one of the most accurate in terms of rendering of new models. Their rendering of the original 2001 Honda City was so uncanny that my 'friend' told me he personally was shocked at the almost spot-on accuracy of the rendering except for the exaggerated height (which I found out during the actual launch to be true).  Later, Mag-X was also spot on for the previous 8Gen Civic. 

New CR-V launched in the U.S.

With apologies for the delay notification, we (TOV) have complete coverage of the launch of the new 4Gen CR-V at the Auto Angeles Motor Show in the U.S. Along with this launch, we have now published 3 articles which we have been putting on hold due to the embargo imposed by Honda before the launch.

Briefly, the new 4Gen CR-V is more of an evolution of the outgoing 3Gen model. The single engine variant continues to be the 2.4l K24 DOHC i-VTEC engine now giving 185hp and 163lbft (about 22.4kgm) of torque. This is 5hp higher than the old model. The transmission continues to be a 5AT only. The model comes with either FWD or real-time 4WD (called real time ALL Wheel Drive by AHM). 

Our coverage of this FMC is spread out over 4 articles, according to the links below:

1. Honda press release of the new 4Gen CR-V 

http://www.vtec.net/news/news-item?news_item_id=1014380

Embargo'ed articles now published includes:

2. Photo gallery of the new 4Gen CR-V

http://www.vtec.net/articles/view-article?article_id=1014330

 

3. Exclusive ! TOV Video for the 'walkaround' and demonstration of new features

http://www.vtec.net/articles/view-article?article_id=1014419

4. Exclusive ! TOV Video for 'First-Drive' impressions

http://www.vtec.net/articles/view-article?article_id=1014411

 

Photos of production CR-V

Famous scoopers Brenda Priddy & Co. has now caught photos of actual production version of the new 4Gen CR-V which the Autoblog website has purchased and published. The photos were taken during the pre-launch media drive event, which was also attended by TOV. However, details from that event are under embargo which is why TOV hasn't published anything about it. This new 4Gen CR-V will be launched in the U.S. next week at the L.A. Auto Show. As confirmed at the TOV forums earlier, it will go on sale on December this year. The photo above was taken from the autoblog website. For more photos and the autoblog story, the link to go to is : http://www.autoblog.com/photos/2012-honda-cr-v-spy-shots-2/med/#photo-4600879/

Confirmed : Honda CR-V to be launched ON SCHEDULE in Decemeber for the U.S.A.

At our TOV forums, there are now confirmations from dealers that their stocks of the new 4G CR-V are en-route. This directly confirms that for the U.S. at least, the launch of the new CR-V will be on schedule, in the month of December (next month). 

What about Asia ? The flood situation in Thailand is definitely affecting all asian models. Initially it was revealed that there will be an MMC for the City next month and the new 9G Civic and 4G CR-V will debut in Asia early next year.

New INTERIOR spy shots of 4Gen CR-V !

China's China Car Times, published spy photos of the new 4Gen CR-V, the photos picked up and then re-published (with full credits given) by Australia's caradvice.com.au website. These shots are the first known proper shots of the interior of the new CR-V in very high detail. More importantly for asian Honda fans, these photos are also indicative of the asian market CR-V which is expected to debut starting from early next year (2012).

The interior photos reveals a general evolution of the current CR-V. A close up photo of the dashboard with a tacho that redlines at 6,600rpm, same as the current generation, suggests that the R20A engine will continue to be used in the new CR-V. The center mounted gearshift layout is retained and the steering wheel continues to be devoid of paddles so the CR-V will continue on without a sequential manual shift override option (which can be useful on certain occasions, when the CR-V is fully loaded). Interestingly there is a 'START' button feature.

The australian website link is http://www.caradvice.com.au/132257/2012-honda-cr-v-interior-and-exterior-spy-shots/. The photo above is taken from the website.

New 4Gen CR-V fully revealed !

A very sharp eye'ed reader and a very net-savvy TOV 'head' led us to the discovery of pictures of the new 4Gen CR-V on an european patent website. Apparently Honda has filed patents in Europe for the 4Gen CR-V and thanks to a lead from TOV reader Frank Opperman, TOV 'head' Jeff Palmer found computer generated 3D diagrams of the 4Gen CR-V on the website.

These diagrams more or less shows exactly how the new CR-V will look like. The computer graphic above is one of the diagrams and there are five more, from all angles of the car, available at our news and rumours article here.

Best spy-shots of CR-V yet

From both autoblog.com and the carscoop blog comes the best spy photos of the soon to be launched 4Gen CR-V yet seen by Honda enthusiasts. The bonus is both these sites are presenting different photos, with autoblog.com giving us 12 photos and the carscoop 9, making it a total of 21 very clear, closeup photos of the brand new CR-V !

The CR-V is one of Honda's most successful and most popular models so a lot of attention is being paid to this FMC. Being a global model, this means spy-photos of the car anywhere will be applicable to everywhere in the world, with only engine, drivetrain and trim differences. So if you are interested in the CR-V and is split between the current one and waiting for the new one, these photos should be of great interest to you.

The relevant sites to go are :
1. Autoblog.com CR-V spy-photos
2. Carscoop blog CR-V spy-photos

Note : the photo above is taken from the carscoop blog