Acura Claims the RWD V8 Program is Still Alive!

Who can we believe anymore? Reports surface that certain vehicle programs are dead and then days later differing reports come out. Earlier this week, Autocar claimed that Honda had killed the V8 engine program and RWD Acura's. Now Jeff Conrad, Vice President of Acura as informed dealers that the Acura "tier 1" program is still in the works.

According to Conrad the NSX program is officially dead, but the much needed V8 engine and RWD programs are still moving forward. It's rumored that Acura is working on a large RWD, V8 powered sedan to go head to head with the Germans.

It's still not known if the other reports about the death of the S2000 are in fact true.

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Top Gear Reviews Honda FCX Clarity [Top Gear]

After Clarkson took the Tesla round the track, James May, Top Gear's Captain Slow, spent time with the Honda FCX Clarity, or, as he calls it, "The Most Important Car in 100 Years."

In addition to the vanilla drive, Jay Leno makes a short cameo in this clip from last Sunday's episode of Top Gear. Watch as silent blandosity saves us from the evils of global warming while reserving the dino-juice for the fast cars.

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Six Degrees of Automotive Separation – Jaguar and Honda

For those of you following the Hemmings Six Degrees of Separation Challenge closely, you may have realized that lately, I’m just throwing spaghetti at the wall, seeing if it’ll stick. You dear readers have been so stellar at finding both the direct and the obscure connections between any two auto companies I posit, I almost don’t need to work it out myself beforehand.

So this time, I’m not. As of this writing, I haven’t really investigated whether there is a connection in six degrees or less between Jaguar and Honda (minus any possible connections in Formula 1/Indycar racing). But I have faith that you can find such a connection.

The rules, as always, are simple: A connection consists of one company owning another, merging with another or sharing another’s parts. Explain your connections, and keep in mind that the point isn’t necessarily to do it in the least number of connections, but to do it with style and with obscure connections. If you need examples, check out our previous Hemmings Six Degrees of Automotive Separation Challenges.

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Honda slashes even more North American production

Filed under: Hirings/Firings/Layoffs, Plants/Manufacturing, Honda

The dramatic drop in U.S. vehicle sales is not confined to just the Domestic automakers. Earlier today, General Motors announced an "unprecedented" cut in production for the first-quarter of 2009, and now Honda has followed suit, enacting a set of North American cuts of its own. While the 119,000 total vehicles is just short of half of what GM will drop, these cuts should still be viewed as rather drastic measures for the Japanese automaker, which builds about 80% of all Hondas and Acuras destined for U.S. consumption in North American plants, and had already lowered sales forecasts for 2009.

These production cuts will be achieved by slowing assembly line output and closing various North American plants for two days this month and up to a week in January, including at the Greensburg, Indiana plant that has yet to reach full capacity. Honda is not planning to lay off any workers at any of the affected plants.

[Source: Automotive News - sub. req'd | Photo: Dimas Ardian/Getty]

Honda slashes even more North American production originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 12 Dec 2008 16:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Honda F1 team for sale, no buyer means no 2009 season

Filed under: Motorsports, Honda

According to several reports, Honda has put its F1 team up for sale and if the automaker doesn't find a suitor before the start of the season in March, it won't be campaigning in 2009.

An unnamed source told Reuters that Honda team bosses Ross Brawn and Nick Fry said, "They have a month to find a buyer, otherwise they are closing the team." Autocar reports that a media lunch was cancelled this week and that a staff meeting at Honda Team HQ in Brackley was called this evening and an official statement will follow tomorrow morning from Japan.

The reason for the decision is due to the current economic climate and the cost of developing a competitive car that abides by the 2009 rules. Finding someone to back the team during these tumultuous times is going to prove difficult and there's already talk that Bernie Ecclestone may step in to attempt to work out a deal to keep Honda around.

More information should follow tomorrow. Thanks to all who tipped in.

[Sources: Reuters, Autocar, ITV | Image: Clive Mason/Getty]

Honda F1 team for sale, no buyer means no 2009 season originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 04 Dec 2008 17:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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