Honda - Most Reliable; Achieves Good June Sales Increase

Honda is the big winner in this year's Which? Car reliability study of new models. The Japanese car maker had its Jazz supermini besting the overall table with a rating from owners of 96 percent.

The Honda struts maker also either won or shared top spot in the medium car category with the previous generation Civic, the large car group with the Accord, the people-carrier section with the FR-V, and among off-roaders with the old CR-V.

Its only notable defeated player was its latest Civic which had a poor reliability rating of only 82 percent as compared to an overall average for new cars of 88 percent. The fuel system, steering and suspension were the problems that the Civic owners have reported.

Which? Car said that the least reliable new model in its survey of 93,365 motorists was the Land Rover Discovery 3 with a rating of 79 percent. It also said that other notable failures were the VW Passat, contrary to Volkswagen's renowned reliability, the Peugeot 307 and Renault Megane - all having 82 percent.

Honda also won with an overall reliability index of 86 percent in the manufacturers' league table of Which? Car. Just one point behind in second place is the giant Japanese car maker, Toyota. Behind them, 6 Far Eastern makes vied for the third place; these are Daihatsu, Hyundai, Lexus, Mazda, Subaru and Suzuki - all of which score 82 percent.

Just behind Renault and Fiat is Land Rover at the bottom of the reliability table with 68 percent.

Aside from such achievement of Honda, it also gained positive sales results. American Honda Motor Co., Inc. announced in July 3 that it recorded June sales of 140,935 Honda and Acura vehicles, marking a 7.3 percent increase on a daily-selling-rate basis. Having such figures, American Honda year-to-date sales totaled 766,929, up 2.1 percent.

Honda Division posted June sales of 124,169, making a 7.4 percent increase compared to last year. Achieving its sixth consecutive month of record sales, the CR--V sold 19,715, up 53.2 percent. The Civic garnered sales of 36,512, up 33.6 percent over June 2006. Also setting a new record for the month is Civic Hybrid’s sales which increased 20.1 percent to 3,246. And breaking its all-time sales record from May 2007 of 5,361 units, the Fit sold 5,613, up 44.3 percent.

Dick Colliver, executive vice president of American Honda, said that the Civic and CR-V gained an incredible amount of push in this year’s first half. He added that they expect the small car and crossover SUV segments to be strong still for the second half of the year, putting Honda on tempo for a twelfth straight record year.
With 16,766 units sold, Acura Division sales increased 6.9 percent. The TSX sports sedan set a new June sales record of 3,414, up 4 percent. Sales of the TL luxury performance sedan also increased 8.1 percent to 6,221, as well as that of the all- new MDX with 26.2 percent to 4,639.

The daily selling rate (DSR) is derived through calculating with 26 days for June 2007, versus 25 for 2006. Year-to-date, the DSR is calculated with 154 days for 2007, versus 152 for 2006.




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Honda Civic Type-R Now in Australia

Having a remarkable reputation on its home market, the Honda Civic Type-R is now being exported to Australia.

The first shipment of Swindon- built Civic Type Rs arrived in Melbourne earlier this month. And now ready to be delivered to dealers, the Civic Type-R will be in the hands of the Australians at the price of a remarkably sharp $A39, 990 for the privilege starting Monday.

Equipped with a rigid Honda throttle body, the Civic comes with a high-revving, naturally aspirated, 2-litre i-VTEC engine that is capable of pumping out 148kW and 193Nm. As a result, it will sprint to 100kmh in just 6.6 seconds, but despite being so wildly quick, it manages 9.3 liters per 100km.

Australians are lucky because they live in the only country outside Europe to get the acclaimed ‘hot hatch’, which sales is expected to reach 1200 units there per year.

Based in Swindon, Honda of the UK Manufacturing (HUM), is the only Honda production facility to build the Civic Type R. Twelve thousand five hundred (12,500) will be built in the area between now and April 2008.

When asked about the possibility of a Type R Civic for the New Zealand market, Honda New Zealand has always said that it has no plans of bringing the car in.

The Civic Type R rides on 18-inch alloy wheels along with 225/40 R18 tires, and stops with 300mm front and 260mm rear brake discs. It has a six-speed manual gearbox, with no automatic, and firm MacPherson strut-style front suspension and torsion beam rear suspension, but the latter of which is actually not as advanced as the fully-independent rear suspension found on New Zealand Civic sedans.

As to the interior, the Civic has a dash design similar to Civic found in New Zealand. When cornering, its body-hugging alcantara racing-style bucket seats keep the driver firmly planted.

Regarding safety features, the Civic Type R has front, side and curtain airbags, vehicle stability assist (VSA), ABS brakes with electronic brake force distribution and an advanced compatibility engineering (ACE) body structure. For additional security of the car, an anti-theft immobilizer is equipped.

Other features include automatic rain- sensing windscreen wipers, auto on/ off headlights, an MP3 and WMA- compatible CD player, multi- function trip computer, cruise control, front fog lights, dual-zone climate control, and a leather-bound tilt and telescopic-adjustable steering wheel.

Honda expects to sell 100 Civic Type Rs per month in Australia. The Swindon Type R is not being sold in Japan either. The only Type R Civic that the public would be able to source as a Japanese used import will be the sedan version.

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