Honda: Operating profit forecast not conservative

TOKYO: Honda Motor Co's annual operating profit forecast is not conservative given yen strength and rising raw materials prices, the automaker's chief financial officer said on Tuesday.

"I don't think assuming 80 yen to the dollar is conservative at all," Fumihiko Ike told a small group of reporters. "The same goes for raw material prices," he said.

Japan's No.3 automaker this month forecast a worse-than-expected 65 per cent fall in annual operating profit to 200 billion yen ($2.49 billion) for the year to March 2012 and projected a 6 per cent drop in global car sales to 3.3 million vehicles.

Many analysts consider its guidance overly conservative.

Source;
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international-business/honda-operating-profit-forecast-not-conservative/articleshow/9021763.cms

Honda rakes up 7,000 orders for Fit Shuttle, Fit Shuttle Hybrid

Earlier this week, Honda unveiled the new Fit Shuttle and Fit Shuttle Hybrid. The Honda Fit Shuttle and the Honda Fit Shuttle Hybrid are both offered in 2wD and 4WD with prices starting at at ¥1,610,000 for the Fit Shuttle and ¥1,810,000 for the Fit Shuttle Hybrid.

So far, Honda has raked up 7,000 orders for the new model with 90 percent of the pre-order sales coming in for the Honda Fit Shuttle Hybrid.

Will this encourage Honda to bring the Fit Shuttle lineup to the United States? It just might.

Refresher: The Honda Fit Shuttle is powered by a 1.5L i-VTEC gasoline unit allowing it to average an estimated fuel-economy of 44 mpg using Japan’s 10·15 testing mode. The Honda Fit Shuttle Hybrid is powered by a 1.3L i-VTEC engine mated to the company’s IMA (Integrated Motor Assist) hybrid system. It returns an estimated fuel-economy of 59 mpg.

Source;
http://www.egmcartech.com/2011/06/18/honda-rakes-up-7000-orders-for-fit-shuttle-fit-shuttle-hybrid/

2012 Honda FIT Shuttle Late Honda car debut turns into hot event

Not for us in North America.... yet....
Honda headquarters is sweltering, executives are without ties and reporters are fanning themselves in a scene illustrative of the nation's struggle to conserve electricity since March 11, when the massive earthquake and tsunami sent the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant into meltdown.

The scene unfolded as Honda Motor Co. launched the Fit Shuttle station wagon, including hybrid versions, for the domestic market Thursday — three months later than planned — another sign of the disaster's widespread impact.

The quake and tsunami destroyed Honda's parts suppliers, dealers and design facility in the Tohoku region.

Still, President Takanobu Ito was relieved the company had come this far.

"It was a real tough three months for us," he told reporters, wearing a casual beige jacket and no tie instead of his usual dark suits.

Cool Biz, the annual practice of allowing less formal attire to be worn in the office during the summer, is finally being embraced in a big way in the name of saving power. Now dubbed Super Cool Biz, some employees are even being encouraged to wear Aloha shirts and shorts.

Although no Honda executives were seen in shorts and their shirts were relatively staid, the nuclear crisis hung like a cloud over the event.

Tokyo-based Honda's invitation to the product launch — one of the first since March 11 — had warned that thermostats will be set at 28 degrees and that executives would be dressed in Cool Biz attire.

In addition to the Fukushima No. 1 crisis, which is expected to take years to resolve, another power plant was shut down months later over safety fears, causing the government to pressure companies and consumers to cut back on power use.

Automakers, a pillar of the economy, are under great pressure to cut power use 15 percent.
Autoworkers are producing cars on weekends and will instead take Thursdays and Fridays off for the next three months starting in July to reduce the load on power companies and avoid blackouts during peak demand periods.

Honda has said vehicle production in Japan will return to predisaster levels by the end of this month, and global production in August or September.

All orders for the Fit Shuttle will be delivered in two months' time, said Sho Minekawa, the executive in charge of Japan sales. There are no plans to offer the model overseas so far.

"We are finally able to introduce this product," he said. "We apologize to all those who have been waiting."

The Fit Shuttle, which comes as a hybrid (starting at ¥1.81 million) and with a gasoline engine (starting at ¥1.61 million), delivers the same mileage as the smaller Fit hatchback, according to Honda.

The hybrid version delivers 30 km per liter, or about 70 mpg, under Japanese test conditions, it said.

Honda is expecting its profit for the fiscal year through next March to plunge 63.5 percent to ¥195 billion from the previous year because of parts shortages and other disaster woes.

The maker of the Civic sedan and Odyssey minivan was battered by the cost of fixing damaged property and equipment, higher raw material costs, the strong yen and research expenses related to future products, such as environmental technology. Honda's global vehicle sales for the current fiscal year are projected to drop 6 percent on year to 3.3 million vehicles.

Honda to hire 1,000 temps
Kyodo
Honda Motor Co. will hire about 1,000 term employees at domestic plants, including in Saitama and Mie prefectures, during the second half of fiscal 2011 to cope with increased production expected from October to March, company sources said Thursday.

Honda is taking the measure because production is recovering from the March 11 catastrophe more quickly than anticipated and is expected to return to near normal by late June, they said.

The automaker will therefore withdraw its earlier plan set in April to gradually reduce the approximately 600 term employees at the plant in Saitama to zero by the end of September.

Honda will renew contracts of term employees if they want to do so, even for those whose employment contracts have already expired, they said.

Source;
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nb20110617a1.html

UPDATE: Honda Pres: Yen Remains Big Concern As Seeks To Restore Ops

By Yoshio Takahashi
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

TOKYO (Dow Jones)--Honda Motor Co.'s (7267.TO) chief executive voiced concern about the yen's strength Thursday, noting its current position could offset the Japanese auto maker's attempt to recover after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

"My feeling is that (the business) situation is tough, especially foreign exchange. I hope that the (unfavorable yen level) will change," Takanobu Ito, president and chief executive of the car maker, said at a press conference for the launch of the auto maker's Fit Shuttle hybrid wagon.

Earlier this week Honda said that it expects its net profit for the current fiscal year through March to drop 63% on the back of the yen's strength and reduced output resulting from a parts shortage in the wake of the disaster.

Honda expects a scarcity of some key parts from suppliers stricken by the disaster to reduce its global sales by 6% to 3.3 million vehicles this fiscal year.

In a bid to push sales during harsh times, Honda rolled out the Fit Shuttle hybrid wagon in Japan three month behind the initial schedule due to the earthquake.

The new hybrid with a starting price of Y1.81 million was developed based on its Fit company hybrid and can run 30 kilometers on a liter of gasoline.

This price is lower than the lowest price of the Prius Alpha minivan hybrid launched last month by Toyota of Y2.35 million.

Toyota's new hybrid was also introduced in Japan with a delay due to the disaster.

Honda said it has received orders for 7,000 Fit Shuttle hybrids, well above the model's monthly sales target of 4,000 units.

But Toyota sees much stronger demand for its newest hybrid, saying Tuesday that it has received 52,000 orders in Japan for the new minivan version of the Prius hybrid one month after its launch. The number far outstrips the company's 3,000 monthly sales target for the Prius Alpha.

Source;
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20110616-702125.html

Post-quake Honda says it now has lots of Fits, Insights for dealers

Honda offered a terrific sign this week that it is finally getting back on its feet in the U.S. after the March earthquake and tsunami that drastically slashed production.

It is now telling dealers that they can resume ordering two of the most in-demand models -- the small Honda Fit and the hybrid Insight, Automotive News reports.

The two models, both made in Japan, have been among the most in-demand as gas rose to an average of nearly $4 a gallon. The Fit is the smallest car that Honda sells in the U.S. and comes recommended by Consumer Reports. The Insight is the brand's underrated hybrid, a competitor to Toyota's Prius.

"Honda's manufacturing operations in Japan are returning to nearly normalized levels by the end of summer," said John Mendel, executive vice president of Honda's U.S. sales operation in a memo to Honda dealers. Adding back Fit and Insight "represents a major improvement from the recovery timetable we provided you last month."

Honda stopped orders on the models after the earthquake. Honda didn't incur major damange to its factories in Japan, but it has been badly impacted by the shortage of parts that has hampered other automakers, including those in the U.S.

In fact, Mendel is downright bullish. Noting that other models like the Pilot SUV, Odyssey minivan and CR-V small crossover are coming back to normal production levels, he implored dealers, "it is imperative that you keep your foot on the sales pedal."

It won't be easy: Sales fell 22% in May compared with a year ago, the News notes.

Source;
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/driveon/post/2011/06/post-quake-honda-says-now-lots-of-fits-insights-for-dealers/1

Honda plans to bring its Japanese assembly plants back to normal output by summer

Honda Motor Co. is seeking to recover from the Japan disaster months earlier than forecasted. It expects that its assembly plants in Japan will be able to resume normal production by summer. Spokesman Keitaro Yamamoto said Honda’s factories in Sayama and Suzuka factories, the car’s only assembly plants in Japan, are expected to get back to pre-earthquake production levels by August. Honda had previously announced that global production will be restored by the end of the year. Honda had been significantly affected by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan that had resulted to disruptions in the supply chain and to idled plants.

But it’s likely that the global operations will normalize earlier with the progress in the country’s recovery, according to Autonews. Honda anticipates that the r&d center’s engineers, who were out of work after the disaster struck, will go back to the facility by the middle of June. The earthquake claimed one death and led to several injuries when it caused the ceiling at Honda’s body design facility to crash down. Last March, Honda put a thousand of its r&d workers (about 10% of the center’s total workforce) to continue their work at its other buildings in the site or at its other facilities in Japan while repairs are ongoing.

Yamamoto said that suppliers are exceeding expectations and are restoring output earlier. That is why automakers are also able to resume normal production earlier too. Honda’s improved outlook was revealed only days after it said that U.S. production will go back to normal this August for its entire lineup except the recently redesigned Civic. Honda has announced that a second shift will be put up later in 2011 at its Civic plant in Indiana to help make up for the production losses.

Source;
http://www.4wheelsnews.com/honda-plans-to-bring-its-japanese-assembly-plants-back-to-normal-output-by/

Honda to revive HR-V in 2014,To be upsize and slot below CR-V

Older news but news none the less.... not expecting this for the North American market....
The current Honda HR-V is small SUV at the size of Suzuki SX4.The fist car will arrive in 1998 and second generation was debute in 2007.

Unfortunately the car is not success and discontinued in 2010.

Dua to recent boom of small crossover, Honda is plan to revive the car in by August 2014.

Mag-x of Japan have photoshop the car.

Size of the new HR-V will slighly increase and will be upmarket to compet with the like of Nissan Qashqai and Mitsubishi ASX where its place between Compact and Sub compact SUV.

Size is speculate at 4350 mm Long X 1745 mm wide X 1640 mm high.

Under the hood will be 2.0 liter 4-cylinder petrol and 2.2 liter diesel is also on card for European market.

Autoten also received news that Honda is working on smaller 1.5 liter diesel engine to fit in Jazz/Fit.

We not sure if this power will under new HR-V hood but it have strong possibility.

Honda claims that this car will be UV-utility vehicle.

So,we have to wait and see what they are going to bring some new innovative or difference from conventional SUV.

Source;
http://autoten.com/2011/05/31/honda-to-revive-hr-v-in-2014to-be-upsize-and-slot-below-cr-v/

Policies say a lot about Honda

It is very good news that Honda expects all its North American operations to be back to full speed by August and that includes its Lincoln plant where three of its most popular vehicles are assembled.

The March earthquake and tsunami in Japan severely hampered Honda’s supply chain and ended up costing the giant automaker months of production as it faced difficult and at times insurmountable obstacles to getting supplies from Japan to North America.

Without those supplies, cars could not be built.

As time passed, the supply chain opened up a bit, and then a little more. But not too long ago Honda officials (along with other Japanese automakers) were expecting a late fall date for full production to resume.

Last week, however, the company announced it wouldn’t take that long.“Honda will increase production volume at its North America automobile plants to a rate of 100 percent original production plan in August,” a company press release announced.

Honda’s employees in Lincoln met the news with enthusiasm.

“Today we announced to our associates in plant-wide meetings that we are planning to accelerate recovery of our production. …” said Mark Morrison, a company spokesman. “When we announced that the Odyssey and Pilot would reach 100 percent of their original production plan in August, our associates greeted the news with great applause,” he said.

That kind of reaction is what you would expect from Honda employees. The 4,000 people who work in the local plant are intensely loyal and, based on the plant’s expansion since opening, also are very productive.

That loyalty and productivity have been rewarded with a unique approach to the forced slowdown in production. Rather than lay off workers, Honda allowed them to work on maintenance chores, or to take earned vacation time to keep their paychecks coming. And after the April 27 tornadoes ripped through our area, Honda allowed its employees to take two days per week to volunteer at cleanup activities while getting paid as though they were at work.

Those policies say a lot about Honda and the kind of company it is. And they say a lot about Honda’s employees and the kind of people they are.

Honda made it through this parts crisis without laying off a single employee in their North American plants, the company said. Now that they are ready to ramp up production again, those employees are available and their morale should be high, since no one had to do with a reduced paycheck during the difficult times.

The Japanese automaker obviously enjoys great economic strength to be able to weather such a crisis without cutting employee paychecks. We commend Honda for its approach, we continue to wish the company a long and prosperous future in Lincoln and the rest of its North America plants.

Source: The Daily Home - Policies say a lot about Honda

Honda’s Mugen Euro wants to do high-performance Fit

Honda’s UK-based performance tuning division Mugen Euro has admitted to wanting to develop a high-performance version of the Jazz/Fit. The brand, which is responsible for the upcoming supercharged CR-Z hybrid said they’ve been yearning to do a hot version of the Fit.

Currently, Mugen offers styling packages for the Jazz in Japan, where the car is known as the Fit. However, performance increases are small.

Mugen Euro’s management says that to achieve a nice performance gain, it could tap into the CR-Z’s supercharged hybrid powerplant – or a normally aspirated 2.0L VTEC unit used in the last Civic Type R.

“Always in the back of our mind as a car that we’d like to do is the Jazz,” said Mugen Euro’s general manager Colin Whittamore.

- By: Omar Rana
Source: AutoCar
http://www.egmcartech.com/2011/05/26/hondas-mugen-euro-wants-to-do-high-performance-fit/

Honda project aims to fight global warming

The city of Saitama in Japan is teaming up with one of the country’s leading car manufacturers in a bid to fight global warming and realise a sustainable, low carbon society with electric vehicles.

Honda has joined forces with the city on the E-KIZUNA project, which will test the use of urban electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid vehicles and electric scooters with Honda also planning to test its Honda Smart Home System in the city next year – a comprehensive energy management system.

The Honda Smart Home System provides heat and electricity for the home and produces power for electric mobility. Honda also hopes to explore the system’s potential to produce electricity for the household in the event of a disaster.

It's overall aim is to reduce household CO2 emissions to half of 2000 levels by 2015. In particular it will focus on: creating a disaster-resistant city of the future through a variety of energy supplies and electric mobility; constructing an electric charging safety net; simulating demand and applying incentives such as promoting the shared use of electric scooters for commercial use; and tailoring education initiatives to local needs.

In addition, Honda has announced that it will begin sales of an all-new household micro combined heat and power gas engine cogeneration unit through gas utilities across Japan, this month. It will serve as the core unit of a household cogeneration system and burn natural or liquid propane gas to generate electricity and heat water.

Source;
http://www.thegreencarwebsite.co.uk/blog/index.php/2011/05/24/honda-project-aims-to-fight-global-warming/

Is Honda Nuts? Its Japan-Only Fit Wagon Would be a U.S. Hit

By Jim Motavalli May 24, 2011

Honda’s management has just made half of a good decision. Taking a page from Toyota’s playbook, it is enlarging the “family” of the popular subcompact Fit hatchback. The new Fit Shuttle, to officially debut next March, stretches the 31-mpg combined base car into a minivan/wagon, which is basically what Toyota did with the larger Prius V. But Toyota is selling the hybrid V in the U.S. and so far Honda has no such plans for the Shuttle. Are they crazy? It’s a perfect car for the American market.

Outdated thinking?
Honda’s thinking on withholding the Shuttle is probably historical, but it’s also probably outdated. What you might call mini-minivans are huge hits in Honda’s domestic market and in Europe, but have often flopped in the U.S. The Kia Rondo, discontinued after the 2010 model year, comes to mind. But the Rondo — which touted three rows of seats in a mini wheelbase, was trying to do too many things at once. It started out strong with 28,000 sold in 2008, but sales fell to half that in 2009.

Kia’s sales drop also make sense when you realize that larger SUV sales rebounded in 2009 when the $4 gas of 2008 went away. The Rondo was cramped, especially that third row. But now gas is up again and the roomy, five-passenger Shuttle could slot nicely into Honda’s lineup, especially if more weight doesn’t hurt fuel economy too much. According to Jack Nerad, an executive analyst at Kelley Blue Book:

In the present climate, the Shuttle could do very well. But it will depend on whether high gas prices turn out to be an era, or just a blip. If it’s an era, then in all likelihood the car could sell in significant numbers.

Trying to track future gas prices is like grabbing o to an eel, but if I were in Honda’s management suites I wouldn’t be banking on a sustained return to $2.50 or $3 gas — though there could be some decline during the summer.

The number one seller in Japan
The Fit is a huge deal in Japan, where with the hybrid version (also not available here) it has been the number one seller for 20 months (having dethroned the hybrid Prius, and offering similar fuel economy). And it’s no slouch in the U.S., either — on the strength of high gas prices, April sales (8,116) of the subcompact were up 72.7 percent in the U.S. compared to the same month in 2010.

Another Fit would be a welcome addition to the American lineup. The base car has found a market because it offers a C-segment interior in a B-segment body, with 50.7 cubic feet of storage space if you tuck the back seat under the fronts (one of five possible configurations).

There’s a new website up for the Shuttle (in Japanese), but it doesn’t say much beyond that the new car will have “a roomy interior and ample luggage space.” Given the exterior photos, the revised interior layout probably adds a bit of both.

Too many hybrids
For Japan, Honda will also make a hybrid Shuttle, and there things get a bit trickier. As Nerad points out, Honda has struggled finding a coherent hybrid strategy. The Insight lacks distinctiveness compared to the much better-selling Prius. The perennial also-ran and somewhat bland Civic Hybrid has been completely redesigned for 2012 as part of a much-needed overhaul of the Civic family. So throwing the Shuttle into that mix might mean too many hybrid offerings for the company’s American dealers.

Honda isn’t talking about its Shuttle intentions. According to spokesman Chris Naughton:

We don’t discuss future product, but we’re always looking at our international markets to determine what might be a good fit for the U.S.

A good fit, Chris, is more Fits! But we are, in fact, getting the Fit EV, a 100-mile electric, in calendar year 2012. Details of that program are lacking, though a small number of cars are going into California test fleets at Google, Stanford University and the City of Torrance. Honda needs to get more high-profile with this program if it wants to ensure success. It should be talking to charging partners, discussing markets, and more. The company seems to be more enthused about its FCX Clarity fuel-cell car, which goes into production in 2015.

I wouldn’t suggest that Honda should be seeing a goldmine in either hybrid or electric Fits, but the Shuttle is a gas price-driven home run for American showrooms. Fuel economy + utility = hit in 2011.

Source;
http://www.bnet.com/blog/electric-cars/is-honda-nuts-its-japan-only-fit-wagon-would-be-a-us-hit/4281

Honda says parts supply recovery picking up speed

May 17 (Reuters) - Honda Motor is seeing a speeding up in the recovery of parts supplies, which will be key to bringing forward its timing for a return to normal production after a March earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan disrupted supply chains, the automaker's chief financial officer said on Tuesday.

Honda Chief Financial Officer Fumihiko Ike also told a small group of reporters that the company plans to announce its earnings forecast for the current fiscal year before its shareholders' meeting, which is scheduled for June 23. (Reporting by Kentaro Sugiyama; Writing by Junko Fujita; Editing by Edmund Klamann)

Source;
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/17/honda-production-idUST9E7GA01I20110517

Honda president's earthquake report

Boss gets on his bike to see the damage first-hand

Honda's CEO and president, Takanobu Ito, has revealed that he used his bike to reach the firm's damaged facilities in the aftermath of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami.

In his personal report on the situation, Ito said:

“In the Tochigi prefecture, there are many Honda facilities including the Automobile R&D Center, an office for the purchasing division, a parts plant and Honda Engineering Co., Ltd., which develops production technologies. Shortly after the earthquake, I rode my motorcycle to visit each of these facilities to check the level of damage. With fallen ceilings and walls and other damage, none of these facilities were in a condition to resume operations immediately. I realized it would not be an easy effort to recover these facilities.

“The purchasing division, whose head office in Tochigi was damaged, set up an emergency satellite office within Saitama Factory and began checking situation all of our suppliers including second and third tier suppliers and investigating the impact of the earthquake on the parts supply. Associates at the purchasing division are pursuing the necessary measures for every single part that was impacted toward the recovery of overall parts supply.

“The Automobile R&D Center set up satellite offices within the plants and other offices as it will take some time to restore its building and facility. After establishing a telecommunications network infrastructure at each office, the team resumed development operations on March 28. The development of mass-production models requires a lot of coordinated work with production plants; therefore, in hindsight, I am expecting that the team will be able to work more efficiently by being close to the production site.

“In the three weeks since the earthquake, we have worked to achieve the ability to resume our operations and we will resume production of finished units of automobiles at the Saitama and Suzuka factories on April 11. This means all Honda production plants in Japan will be in operation as of that date. However, as the parts supply situation remains fluid, production of component parts and vehicles in Japan will be at approximately 50% of the original production plan for the time being, and we have reduced production volume at some plants outside of Japan.

“We will strive to get back to normal operation as soon as possible by stabilizing the parts supply while also considering other options including changing the model mix at some production plants. We will also bring the pace of automobile development back to where it was before the earthquake by using R&D facilities in Tochigi as they are ready to resume operations, as well as the temporary satellite offices.

“The other day, I visited affected suppliers and dealers in Tohoku and saw them working hard day and night to resume their operations under conditions beyond my imagination. We will devote ourselves to support our suppliers and dealers to resume their stable parts production and services to our customers as soon as possible.

“We, the Honda Group, will go all out to overcome this difficult time and recover our business as soon as possible, which will also be a contribution to the recovery of the Japanese economy as well.”

Source;

http://www.visordown.com/motorcycle-news-industry/honda-presidents-earthquake-report/17777.html

Next Gen Honda HR-V Coming for 2014?

Those of us in North America would be unfamiliar with this one, it is a smaller version of a CR-V sold from 1999-2006 and was found in many different parts of the world except here. It was a small 1.6litre engine with the CR-V's realtime 4wheel drive system and sold from Japan to Europe to Australia. Below is a pic of what the original HR-V looked like. This would be a nice addition to Honda's lineup here in NA, with the tiny SUV market's new entries (Juke, Scion, etc).

Source;

http://jp-cardesigncorner.blogspot.com/2011/04/honda-hr-v-is-coming-back.html

Honda Suspends Dealer Orders on Japan-Built Cars

After Mazda announced last week that it would halt orders on U.S. deliveries of all Japan-made cars, Honda has now decided to follow a similar action. Informing dealers that they can no longer order Japan-build cars, retailers will be forced to move only what is on their lot until the Japanese supply chain can be mended.

Vehicles affected by the order include hybrid models like the CR-Z, Insight and Civic Hybrid, as well as some CR-V models (many of which are also build in North America). The Acura luxury division has also been affected, with the TSX and RL also made in Japan.

With current dealer inventories, this shouldn’t pose a product shortage unless the delay is lengthy.

Other Japanese automakers, including Mitsubishi, Nissan and Toyota, have yet to announce any such supply chain issues.

Source;

http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2011/03/honda-suspends-dealer-orders-on-japan-built-cars.html

Japan's version of the 2012 Honda Civic sedan

Very slight difference between the North American version and the Japanese version....
Source;
http://jp-cardesigncorner.blogspot.com/2011/03/photos-of-new-jdm-honda-civic.html

Honda puts Honda FIT Shuttle intro on hold

Not for the North American market....
The devastating earthquake and its aftermath in Japan have forced Honda to postpone the market launch of its new Fit Shuttle. The introduction of the car in Japan was scheduled to take place this month. Honda said it has not yet decided on a new release date and that the company will follow up with an announcement with more details soon.

The new Fit Shuttle is approximately 510mm longer than the hatchback, which is also known as the Jazz in Europe and other international markets. In Japan, it will be offered with a similar engine lineup to the hatchback model including a conventional 1.5-liter four-cylinder gasoline engine and a hybrid variant featuring a 1.3-liter gasoline unit and a 10 KW electric motor.

Suggested retail prices in Japan will start from 1.61 million Yen (about US$13,900) for the gasoline engine only model and from 1.81 million Yen (US$15,800) for the hybrid variant.

Source;

http://carscoop.blogspot.com/2011/03/honda-postpones-launch-of-fit-shuttle.html

Honda reveals earthquake aid plans

Honda's relief efforts to deal with the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami disaster announced

After suffering damage to some factories including a collapsed wall at its R&D facility in Tochigi where one employee was killed Honda has revealed that many of its plants in Japan will remain closed all this week.

As well as leading to the death of a 43 year old male employee, the damage at Tochigi is reported to have caused injuries to 30 other Honda workers. Now Honda has revealed its plans to cope with the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami.

The firm's full release is below:

TOKYO, Japan, March 14, 2011 - Honda would like to express its deepest sympathy and condolences to the victims of The 2011 Off the Pacific Coast of Tohoku Earthquake in northeastern Japan and our sincere hopes for the earliest possible relief and recovery of the affected areas.

Considering the current situation of the nationwide recovery efforts in Japan, Honda has decided the following:

-As of March 14, all production activities are suspended at the following Honda plants: Sayama Plant at Saitama Factory (Sayama, Saitama), Ogawa Plant (Ogawa-machi, Hiki-gun Saitama), Tochigi Factory (Moka, Tochigi), Hamamatsu Factory (Hamamatsu, Shizuoka) and Suzuka Factory (Suzuka, Mie).

-From March 15 through 20, Honda will suspend all production activities at its plants listed above as well as at Kumamoto Factory (Ozu-machi, Kikuchi-gun, Kumamoto).

-From March 14 through 20, Honda will suspend regular operations at all Honda facilities in the Tochigi area, where damage was more serious, (including Tochigi Factory, Honda R&D Co., Ltd.

-Automobile R&D Center (Tochigi) , Honda Engineering Co., Ltd., etc.), and focus on the recovery of each operation. Honda associates will not come to work during this time.

With the hope to contribute to the earliest possible relief and recovery of affected areas, Honda will provide the following aid:

-300 million yen toward the relief and recovery effort.

-A total of 1,000 generators (gasoline-powered and home-use gas canister-powered), along with 5,000 gas canisters. Honda also will dispatch its staff to explain how to use the donated generators.

Honda will cooperate to the electricity conservation efforts and the rolling blackout, prioritizing the relief and recovery of affected areas.

Honda decided the following regarding its recruiting activities so that victims of the earthquake can focus on recovery.

Prospective associates, who are scheduled to join the company in April, can choose to delay their first day of work by up to two months if they or their families are affected by the earthquake.

For those who have applied for next year's recruiting process starting in April of this year (associates who would join the company in April 2012) from the affected areas (six prefectures in Tohoku areas and Ibaraki prefecture), Honda will ensure that the testing/interviewing of those applicants will be conducted in June or later. More details will be posted on the recruiting section of the Honda website in April.

Source;

http://www.visordown.com/motorcycle-news--general-news/honda-reveals-earthquake-aid-plans/17489.html

Next Gen Honda Odyssey for Japan

The Honda Odyssey is a smaller van in Japan, much in the same vein as the old 1995-1998 Honda Odyssey that was here in North America. This was taken from a MagX (Japanese auto mag) cover. Anyway, not coming here, but nice to see none the less.

Source;
http://jp-cardesigncorner.blogspot.com/2011/02/scoop-on-new-jdm-honda-odyssey.html

Honda Motor To Cut Number Of Directors To 12 From 20 - Update

(RTTNews) - Japanese automaker Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (HMC: News ) Tuesday stated that its board of directors has decided on a plan for changes in management and board structures. The plan includes reducing the number of directors to twelve from presently twenty.

The plan, which was decided at a board meeting held today, is intended to strengthen the company's management structure amid changes in the economic environment.

The planned changes are subject to shareholders' approval at the general meeting to be held in late June 2011 and a decision at the board meeting to be held immediately thereafter.

According to the company, in 2005, it had implemented an operating officer system to strengthen the execution of regional and on-site operations and to carry out appropriate management decisions. In that system, a structure was established to differentiate the roles between directors and operating officers.

Honda Motor today said it will designate all of the directors who have business execution roles, including the president, as operating officers. In conjunction with these changes, titles such as senior managing, managing, and the like will be attributed to officers within the operating officer system.

Further, the company will elect a member from the operating officers as a candidate for director.

This member will be responsible for deciding matters provided by law and for monitoring and supervising business execution, in order to speed-up and streamline board's decision making. This member will also respond to the requests of shareholders and investors.


As a consequence of these changes, the number of directors will change from twenty to twelve in late June this year. Meanwhile, the company will maintain the number of corporate auditors at five.

In addition, in order to align with the beginning of the business year, the time of assumption of office for operating officers will be changed to April 1. It was late June earlier.

HMC closed Friday's trading at $44.49, up $0.12, on a volume of 496,400 shares.

Source;
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