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KBB 2013 Brand Image Awards has some obvious and oddball winners

The sixth edition of the Kelley Blue Book Brand Image Awards have crowned a wide range of winners - in a couple of cases the recipient of the laurels might say more about KBB users than they do about the actual winner. Compiled from the responses of more than 12,000 shoppers on KBB.com over the past year, there are 13 categories broken into non-luxury, luxury and truck segments "representing the combined wisdom of the American car-buying public."
The award categories have been revamped this year, with some dropping off, some new ones appearing and at least one other given a new term. What isn't surprising is that Honda won Most Trusted Brand for the second year running, Best Value Brand for the third year in a row and took Best Overall Brand, which wasn't on last year's list of awards.
On our own shores, in the non-luxury categories Chrysler got Most Refined Brand and Buick took Best Value Luxury Brand. Neither one of those marques won anything in last year's Brand Image Awards, while Cadillac, which won Best Interior Design Brand and Best Comfort Brand last year - those awards disappeared this year - went home without a single accolade.

Honda Civic poised to get new Earth Dreams engines

When Honda executed its emergency refresh of the Civic for 2013, it didn't do any massive powertrain reworking. But that doesn't mean new things aren't already in the works for Honda's compact. According to Automotive News, Honda has confirmed that it will offer the Civic with a new Earth Dreams powerplant sometime in the future, though details on timing and exactly what sort of engine are unclear as of this writing.
The confirmation comes from Honda's executive vice president and regional director for North America, Tetsuo Iwamura, who says that the Earth Dreams engine will come when the Civic is re-engineered or redesigned, not during a refresh. There is also no mention of whether these changes will apply to just the standard Civic, or if the Si and Hybrid models will receive some Dreamy new tech, as well.
The entire Earth Dreams group of technologies encompasses more than just naturally aspirated engines with direct injection. A turbo-diesel engine is also part of this suite, as are new continuously variable transmissions and new gasoline-electric hybrid powerplants. Honda launched its 2.4-liter and 3.5-liter Earth Dreams engines in the redesigned 2013 Accord.

Honda reveals Mobilio MPV, Brio Satya hatchback for Asian markets

Sometimes, vehicles developed for mainstream markets don't work as well in emerging markets due to a lack of infrastructure for which they were originally designed. Indonesia is one of those environs where vehicles that are low, long and wide struggle cover the country's often rough terrain, let alone fit into the nation's compact parking spaces. Taking this into account, Honda has been developing the Mobilio multi-purpose vehicle (MPV), which it teased in July, based on research conducted on the country's roads and weather conditions. Today the Japanese automaker unveiled a prototype of the MPV at the Indonesia International Motor Show.
The Mobilio has three rows of seating for seven occupants, is compact enough to fit into the country's parking spaces, which are often less than 14.4 feet in length, and has a sports utility vehicle-like ground clearance of 7.3 inches to handle most road conditions. It's equipped with a 1.5-liter i-VTEC four-cylinder engine, which should give the MPV good fuel economy.
On September 11, Honda also introduced the Brio Satya five-door hatchback (shown at right) for the Indonesian market, which features an i-VTEC four-cylinder engine that Honda says will help the car net a fuel economy rating of 20 kilometers per liter of gasoline (equivalent to 47 miles per gallon). The model is closely related to the Brio budget hatchback, which was first revealed back in 2011.