Autoblog

Honda built its state of the art Lincoln, Alabama plant to produce the Odyssey minivan and Pilot SUV, and now it's going to add the Ridgeline unit-body pickup, as well. Cost-wise, it makes a lot of sense to move Ridgeline production from Canada to Alabama, considering all three vehicles share a platform and powertrain. What's tough to understand is how Honda intends to squeeze out an additional 40,000 units from the ultra-efficient plant. The Lincoln plant is already operating 13,000 units beyond peak capacity, with its very strong minivan and SUV selling well around the country.

Lucky for Honda we're not in charge of vehicle production, and we're sure the company's many brilliant engineers know what they're doing. Now, if the Japanese automaker can get some equally talented designers to gussy up the visual train wreck that is the Ridgeline, then they'd definitely need a second manufacturing sight site.

[Source: AL]

When you think about an automaker offering up incentives, Honda normally wouldn't spring to mind. With the ongoing success of the Civic and Honda's inability to keep enough Fits on the lot to keep up with demand, it's obvious that the automaker has been doing well with its core models, but it's some of its outlying offerings that aren't selling like hotcakes.

The SUV and minivan segment has been stagnant as of late, and coupled with an increase in production at Honda's plants, the imbalance is affecting the number of Pilots and Odysseys that are hanging around dealer lots. To combat the lethargic sales, Honda is increasing dealer incentives and lease subsidies on the aforementioned people movers, the Ridgeline and the long-in-the-tooth Accord.

Regardless of the move, Honda isn't throwing money on the hood like other automakers, which makes both corporate bigwigs and Honda owners happy, as residual values won't be hampered by a flood of inexpensive models hitting the market.

[Source: Automotive News – Sub. Req.]

We were wondering whatever happened to Volvo's treasure hunt promotion that coincided with the release of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. The prize of $50,000 in gold and the keys to a new Volvo were buried somewhere near Davey Jones' locker on the ocean floor, but until today there was no word on which lucky treasure hunter had navigated the mess of riddles and clues to find it.

23-year-old Alena Zvereva from Ekaterinburg, Russia has been chosen as the winner, but her prize will have to remain wet a little while longer as Odyssey Marine Exploration, the deep-ocean shipwreck exploration company with which Volvo partnered, has found real treasure somewhere in the Atlantic. The real booty consists of $500 million worth of gold and silver coins at a secret deep ocean site that Odyssey has named the 'Black Swan'.

Follow the jump read more about how the Spanish government has gotten involved and delayed the delivery of Zvereva to her prize.

[Source: Volvo]

Sometimes news is just too good to keep to yourself. Just ask GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz. With his company supposedly claiming 13 spots on Edmund's Consumers' Most Wanted list, Lutz just had to brag a bit on the corporate blog before the winners were made public.

And he should brag. Most other car of the year awards are chosen by us automotive writers who usually prefer horsepower over hip room. As the name implies, Edmund's CMW awards are chosen by the car-buying public. And despite not voting with their wallets, the car-buying public who visits Edmund's really like their GMs.

The GMC Acadia got Most Significant vehicle of the year, beating out Honda's Fit, the Toyota Camry Hybrid, the Ford Edge and the Toyota Tundra.

Click through to see Edmund's press release as well as the other category winners.

[Source: Edmunds, GM FastLane Blog]

In an interview with Automotive News, Honda's CEO, Takeo Fukui said that the automaker's newly developed diesel technology will find its way into their light truck offerings of the future.

The vehicles identified by Fukui as being the likely recipients of a V6 diesel are the Ridgeline pickup, Pilot SUV and Odyssey minivan, with Acura's MDX also being a candidate for oil-burning power.

The V6 engine is currently under development and will likely debut sometime after Honda introduces their 2.2-liter diesel in 2009.

Another interesting tidbit from Fukui's interview with AN was his comment about the possibility of future Honda vehicles receiving turbocharged mills. He indicated that the introduction of the turbo'd Acura RDX did not mean that only the high-end automaker would benefit from the glories of forced induction. We'd like to see a factory-blown version of the Honda Remix come out by the end of the decade, but we're not going to start saving up yet.

[Source: Automotive News – Sub. Req.]

Honda announced yesterday that they would recall 270,000 vehicles throughout Japan and China. The two vehicles affected by the recall are the Odyssey minivan and Life kei car.

In the case of the Odyssey, a problematic electrical circuit in the windshield wiper unit has resulted in two minivans catching fire. Of the approximately 117,000 affected Odysseys, 85,000 are in Japan and the rest are spread throughout China, Australia and New Zealand.

The Life kei car (pictured) is also suffering from electrical maladies that can cause the engine to shut down suddenly. So far 104 cases of engine failure have been reported and Honda is expecting to recall 153,000 examples of the popular city car.

[Source: Today Online]

OK, what happened here? Suddenly the Japanese automakers are leading practically every category in the world of automotive statistics, even the bad ones. Long considered to be superior to American and European vehicles in terms of reliability and durability, lately we are more likely to find them filling the headlines with more dubious announcements, like recalls. Joining Mazda, Toyota and Nissan, Honda Motor just announced a very large recall. It will recall about 270,000 mostly Japanese market vehicles because of defective electric circuits and engine-linked parts.

The recall covers Odyssey minivans that have potential fire threats and Life small cars affected by engines suddenly shutting down, a transportation ministry official said. "In the cases with Odyssey, electric circuits for the windshield wipers have problems that they may catch fire when it's freezing due to the cold," said the official. The generator seems to be the problem with the Life models, with the battery possibly running down and suddenly shutting down the engine, he said. Total number of vehicles effected is 117,500 Odysseys and 153,000 Lives.

[Source: Today Online]
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Our sister site, Autoblog Spanish, recently posted on the debut of the 2007 Honda Stream, a model sold in Europe and Asia that could best be described as a four-door, three-row minvan. The new Stream's design seems to borrow heavily from Honda's current design language, which places a large brand badge front and center in a wide grille that's flanked by sharply shaped headlights. The back of the Stream resembles a CRV with taillights that run up the rear all the way to the roof. The seven-seater with a fold-flat third row reminds us of what the Odyssey might have been had Honda not turned it into a traditional minivan here in North America. Traction control and an automatic transmission appear to be standard on the base model, while a six-speed is likely for the sportier RSZ. We're still a bit unclear as to what engine will be available, but from what we can gather there'll be two, one of which will be a 1.8L i-VTEC.

There's also rumors floating around that forces within Honda North America want to see the Stream on sale in the States.

More pics of the '07 Stream after the jump...

[Source: Autoblog Spanish]

Honda Motor announced Wednesday a massive worldwide recall of 561,594 vehicles. The affected models are the Odyssey minivan, CR-V crossover and Step Wagon. Over 480,000 of the vehicles are in Japan, with the majority of overseas recalls covering Odyssey minivans sold in North America.

The recall will fix a faulty ignition switch that can cause the engine to shut down.

Honda's budget for the recall and repairs? A cool $23.7 million.

[Source: Reuters]

(Thanks to everyone for the tips)