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Honda returning to F1 as McLaren partner

Honda must really love Formula One racing, as evidenced by today's announcement that the Japanese automaker is returning to the world's most popular motorsport for the fifth time in its history. Honda has entered into a team partnership with McLaren to develop and manufacture power systems - the engine and energy recovery system - for the 2015 F1 season. McLaren will be in charge of chassis development and running the day-to-day operations of this newly formed team, which will be called McLaren Honda.
Honda says its decision to reenter F1 racing had to do with new regulations for the 2014 season that require cars to be powered by a 1.6-liter direct-injection turbocharged V6 engine paired with an energy recovery system. Apparently the chance to develop this particular powertrain for F1 racing was too enticing for Honda to pass up, which suggests it has bigger plans for the knowledge learned while developing these systems beyond just winning races.
As mentioned, this is Honda's fifth foray into F1 racing, the first being back in 1964 when it participated as its own team through 1968. Its longest stint came from 1983-1992 as an engine supplier, during which time it partnered with many teams, including McLaren, and won six Constructor Championships. Honda then returned from 2000-2005 as an engine supplier for British American Racing (BAR) before buying that team outright and running it as Honda Racing from 2006-2008. Then the global economic crisis hit. Honda's return to the sport will surely be welcomed by fans as its partnership with McLaren should produce a formidable team. It's a strong signal that the company has returned to health after a few tumultuous years, and hopefully its rediscovered motorsports mojo will help yield more passionately engineered street cars.

Honda reports $1.9 billion profit in first quarter despite sales lag at home

Ford, General Motors and Chrysler have been living in a world of sunshine and buttercups after their April-through-June financials hit the newswire, and Toyota is doing pretty good as well. Honda? Not so much.
While Japan's third-largest manufacturer saw $1.9 billion in profits, the 5.1-percent jump was lower than expected thanks to a drop in its home-market sales. US sales also took a sting, as Honda hasn't been able to match the SUV and truck demand that are currently permeating the American market, despite an uptick in Accord sales.
Honda's initial forecasts targeted a take of 209.3 billion yen ($2.1 billion at today's rates), and while a $200 million shortfall is nothing to sniff at, we'd hardly take this as Honda being in trouble. And even with the dip, Honda hasn't adjusted its forecast for the fiscal year, which remains at 780 billion yen ($7.9 billion).

Honda's U.S. Plants Build Ten Million Accords, 20 Million Total Vehicles

The ten millionth American-built Honda Accord rolled off the assembly line Friday at the Japanese automaker's plant in Marysville, Ohio, according to Autoblog. Honda is celebrating not only the Accord, which is the seventh best selling nameplate of all time, but also an accumulative 20 million Hondas built in the U.S. since the company first started manufacturing at Marysville in November 1982. Honda was the first Japanese automaker to gamble on American manufacturing. Now, 94 percent of all Hondas sold in the U.S are American-built. They are made in facilities in Ohio, Alabama and Indiana. Honda's U.S. plants manufactured 1.3 million vehicles last year - a company record. Honda currently builds the best-selling Civic and Accord, as well as the Crosstour, CR-V, Pilot, Odyssey and Ridgeline in the U.S. Acura, Honda's luxury brand, also builds cars at the American plants, including the ILX, TL, RDX and MDX. Related Gallery History's 10 best-selling cars of all time View 11 Photos By the Numbers Honda