Honda Cars : Honda CEO “Not Satisfied” With Automaker’s Recent Performance | 2013 New Honda Car Reviews 0

Honda CEO Takanobu Ito criticized the “complacent” nature of his company at the Beijing Auto Show, taking aim at poor sales figures, a lack of product direction and a need to focus on improving the company’s hybrid systems.
Honda’s market share slid by 0.4 percent, with Ito citing the disappointing sales of the Insight hybrid as a particular sore spot. In Insight has been pitched as an alternative to the Prius, but poor reviews, lower fuel economy numbers and the lack of cachet surrounding the vehicle has seen the Insight get trounced in the sales race, with Toyota selling 5 times as many Prius hybrids.

The most surprising part of this candid interview was Ito’s admission that “It’s possible we grew complacent about the good performance of the Accord, Civic and CR-V.” The Accord recently lost a major Car and Driver comparison test to the Hyundai Sonata, while the CR-V has gone nearly 8 years without a re-design (that must be Bejing specific b/c the current CRV was redesigned in 2007 here in North America). Ito also cited Hyundai as a major threat, and said that Honda must change its course to compete with the Korean giant. “The biggest problem is we’re not selling the value of our products. We have to improve the performance of our products as well.”

Ito also announced plans for a new hybrid system for large cars, involving two large electric motors, one which charges the battery, the other which gives the gasoline engine a power boost. The system will be used on an upcoming Acura hybrid, as well as minivans and mid-size cars.

Honda has traditionally resisted a number of technologies employed by its competitors, including turbochargers, rear-wheel drive and V8 engines, and stuck to their formula of light-weight, efficient and practical vehicles. But Ito’s comments could indicate that the “Honda way” is beginning to falter, and some new direction is needed at the venerable Japanese firm.

Source;
http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2010/04/honda-ceo-not-satisfied-with-automakers-recent-performance.html

Honda Cars : Question and Answer with Honda CEO Takanobu Ito | 2013 New Honda Car Reviews 0

Honda's new CEO Takanobu Ito talks to Autocar about the problems with recycled carbonfibre and why he can't sell fuel cell cars.

Do you plan to give us more cars in the future with more platform sharing?
To be honest, we don’t sell a huge variety of cars in Europe. To sell a large variety would undermine our investment efficiency and impact our business. We want to respond to our customers’ needs, so for future cars we will try to offer more varied cars on the same platform and we are revisiting our development in that respect. We will try to reduce the number of platforms, but this will take time.

In Europe Toyota is seen as the green car company, despite Honda’s long history with hybrids. How do you address this?
Our European sales people are largely to blame. We tried to enhance our position with the Civic hybrid but failed. But the CR-Z and Insight will help us enhance awareness that Honda is a green car maker. We also want to introduce the FCX to Europe and have started testing here.

Talking of green technology, what happened to the clean diesels you were working on?
It was too challenging to produce a commercialised clean diesel. We got it to work at a research and development level, but we couldn’t make it work commercially. But we haven’t abandoned clean diesel research, and we’re still working on the technology.

Honda doesn’t believe electric vehicles have much of a future, yet you are working on battery-electric cars. Why?
The performance of batteries is evolving and there are possibilities. But the energy that can be stored is less than an internal combustion engine can produce, and with current battery technology electric vehicles are city commuters. But they could be used as a second car, with an internal combustion-engined car as the first vehicle. We are in the midst of considering what can be done with an electric commuter car.

Honda has, from an early stage, worked on fuel cell vehicles. Battery EVs are heavy, not fun to drive and aren’t reliable, and when it comes to cars lighter is better. FCVs are going in that direction.

So when do you think you’ll be selling fuel cell cars?
We don’t have any plans to sell them as there isn’t a hydrogen infrastructure to support them, and they would be very expensive. Infrastructure is key to the adoption of fuel cell vehicles.

And the cost?
We can do cost reduction and mass production of the technology. It’s simple to produce fuel cells; it’s the chemicals they use that cost money, along with the precious metals. But we can cut the cost of those, too.

What’s happened to the small sub-Jazz car that was mentioned last year?
The recession has caused our business to go through difficult times, and we had to revise our business plan, which has slowed development. Our priority now is to increase sales of the Jazz in Europe. But we haven’t given up on the small car. We’d like to try it in Asia first.

Would you consider a joint venture with another car maker?
I don’t imagine Honda seeking a partner. But if another car maker approached Honda, what would happen? Well, the final products coming out of the factory would have to be Honda products. I wouldn’t rule out the possibility of a partnership, but I can’t see a need for it now.

Volkswagen is working on recycled carbonfibre for cars. Is that something you’re interested in?
The problem with carbonfibre is that you have to bake it at high temperature and at high pressure, which is not suitable for mass production. It’s difficult to recycle, too; recycled carbonfibre can’t be reused in automobiles. That’s why I don’t think it will be used in mass-produced cars.

Source;
http://www.autocar.co.uk/News/NewsArticle.aspx?AR=245649#

Honda Cars : Honda CEO says the decision to quit Formula 1 was absolutely necessary | 2013 New Honda Car Reviews 0

Honda CEO Takanobu Ito says he has no regrets withdrawing from Formula One racing last year, saying that it was necessary for the company’s survival. Honda’s former team, now named Brawn GP, had won both the drivers’ and constructors’ championships this season.

When asked by reporters whether he had misgivings for pulling out of the sport, he said that after its withdrawal, it saw its team doing “extremely well” because of the efforts it put into the team. Ito took over Honda in June from his predecessor, Takeo Fakui, who had made the decision to quit F1. Ito said that he believes it was the correct decision. Ito explained that the company’s love for F1 racing had never waned but that its first priority was the company in light of the global recession that had deteriorated its management environment. He also cited the need to comply with environmental requirements, which meant that it had to develop new technologies.

Source;
http://www.4wheelsnews.com/honda-ceo-says-the-decision-to-quit-formula-1-was-absolutely-necessary/

Honda Cars : TOV: New Honda president says FR sedans (and V8s) are out | 2013 New Honda Car Reviews 0

Who would have figured that July 20th would have held more than a single newsworthy story, but it's not even lunch time on the west coast and we're already up to our third item of the day.
On a normal Monday I probably would have come across this sooner but I'm actually hurtling down the freeway somewhere outside of Lexington, KY as I type this.

This is apparently all over the blogs already, but in case you missed it, Automotive News ran a story earlier today with the following headline: New Honda chief: We don't need rwd sedans.

The story is available here, but it may require a login and/or subscription.

Basically the gist of it is that Takanobu Ito claims that Honda has suspended its RWD development program and will shift its focus towards developing hybrid powertrains for larger vehicles. Ito-san is quoted as saying "It would be meaningless to emulate what other companies have been doing for more than five decades." , and that they intend to pioneer in new areas.

Temple of Vtec Opinion
As Acura is currently in the midst of fortifying their brand image in an effort to pull level with "Tier 1" marques, I can't imagine there possibly being a worse time for the president of Honda to make such a declaration. Just when it seems like things were looking up for Acura (with word of a proper flagship RL, unique FR platforms, and true "Tier 1" powertrains in the works), the news has been steadily getting worse for the past six months or so. The cumulative effect of this series of blows is taking its toll on Acura's brand credibility amongst enthusiasts, which arguably drive a brand's overall image. Will the effect ultimately prove fatal for Acura? Only time will tell.

Source;
http://www.vtec.net/news/news-item?news_item_id=842482