Wednesday, October 7, 2009

TYPES OF HONDA


It’s been a long time since Honda sold a sports coupe. The late-great Prelude has now become a collector’s item and the once vaunted CRX remains popular amongst tuners and weekend racers, so the upcoming CR-Z is highly anticipated.

The CR-Z, of course, wouldn't be racing, unless challenging Toyota’s Prius in a hybrid shootout, but at least we’ll get to see a production prototype at next month’s Tokyo auto show, where the original concept hit the stage in 2007.

The production car will arrive in its domestic Japanese market early next year and other markets, including Canada, sometime later, with a 1.5-litre four-cylinder under its sleek hood plus Honda’s Integrated Motor Assist hybrid drivetrain. Making it sportier than the average hybrid will be a six-speed manual, while a CVT will be available for more relaxed commuters.

This “concept” won’t change much at all if any before the real thing hits the auto show stage, possibly at the upcoming Los Angeles auto show later this year, so if you like the shapely form of Honda’s sexy hybrid, you can make plans.

Honda to Show EV-N Retro Electric in Tokyo

Sometimes a retro design is so well executed that it simply must be built. BMW introduced the first modern-day Mini concept at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 1997, and every British car enthusiast had to have one. The most recent retrospective subcompact is Fiat’s 500, which has taken Europe by storm and is due on our shores in jus

t a little over a year. So why doesn’t Japan get in on the mix?

By the looks of things at Honda, it might just. The new EV-N is an electrically-powered micro car with a retrospective twist. Modeled after the N600 from the late ‘60s and early ‘70s (hence the “N” in the name), predecessor to Honda’s now legendary Civic, the small-displacement four-cylinder gasoline engine expected isn’t part of the package. Rather, it gets down the road via a state-of-the-art electric motor and battery pack.

Details about the EV-N’s powertrain are scarce, but Hon

da did offer a few morsels of information about swappable seat fabrics, a solar roof, and a communications system integrated into in the black front fascia. What might be even more interesting is that the EV-N's passenger door holds a UX-3 super gyroscopic robot unicycle, if piloting a totally clean subcompact around isn’t enough.

The EV-N will debut next month at the Tokyo auto show in Honda’s “Hello! Zone,” a dedicated showcase of electric vehicles.



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Posted by NICK DA GREAT at 11:53 AM
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