2004 Honda Odyssey Ex Automatic 4-door Van on 2040-cars

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2025 Honda Civic Hybrid confirmed along with new small Acura crossover

Honda made several announcements Thursday regarding both its core band and its premium subsidiary, Acura, giving us a taste of what to expect from both brands in 2024. The biggest news is that Acura will add a new small crossover to the lineup, slotted alongside the Integra sedan. We can also expect updates to the Honda Civic — most notably among them the introduction of a 2025 Honda Civic Hybrid model for the new sedan and hatchback — and less significant updates here and there throughout both lineups.  We know little about this new baby Acura crossover apart from what it isn't, and that's a direct import of the CDX sold overseas. Scratch that notion from your mind entirely. Honda wouldn't comment further, but we suspect the small CUV's fundamental architecture will be shared with the Honda HR-V, though we wouldn't be surprised to see it benefit from a powertrain upgrade. This is not to be confused with the Acura ZDX, which is the all-electric crossover due to arrive just about any day now . The ZDX is larger and shares its underpinnings not with anything of Honda's, but rather GM's Ultium platform. Elsewhere at Acura, we can expect a thorough interior and exterior update of the MDX and "upgrades" to the RDX.  Over at Honda, the long-expected Civic Hybrid is now officially go. It will launch this year as both a sedan and hatchback alongside a broader update that will include new styling elements (teased above) and interior upgrades; expect more closer to launch. Honda said the Odyssey will receive updates for the model year too, but did not elaborate on what to expect from the effort. We expect more on that later in 2024.  Related video:

Honda revamps F1 engine for McLaren

Things haven't been going smoothly for Honda since returning to Formula One, and the Japanese automaker says the challenge has been greater than it anticipated. But after a stronger showing at the recent Hungarian Grand Prix, Honda says its reliability issues are behind it and is working on introducing a revamped engine for the second half of the season. "I am confident our reliability problems are now behind us, which means we can turn our attention to increasing power," Honda racing chief Yasuhisa Arai told Autosport. "After the summer shutdown our plan is to apply a new-spec engine using some of our remaining seven tokens." The "tokens" to which Arai refers are a way for the FIA to limit engine development. The power units are broken down into 66 such tokens in the regulations, and each engine supplier can change up to 32 of them throughout the season. The allowance was at first afforded only to returning suppliers Mercedes, Ferrari, and Renault, but Honda succeeded in convincing the FIA to allow it the same leeway. Honda has been spending its development tokens on fixing reliability issues, but will shift its focus to improving performance. The McLaren team that Honda powers has only gotten both of its cars to the finish line at two out of 10 races this season. Most of those problems came down to the new engine package. That's compared to only two retirements the team suffered last season, when it was still under Mercedes power, and none the year before. In Hungary, however, the team not only got both cars to the finish line, but placed both in the points for the first time this season. "The sport has changed immensely since the McLaren-Honda 'glory days'," said Arai. "The current technology is much more sophisticated, and it is tough to make a good racing car. We knew it wouldn't be easy, but perhaps we didn't imagine it would be this hard." The Japanese manufacturer is now spending the summer break developing its power unit. Many of those changes are expected to be rolled out in time for the Belgian Grand Prix later this month, with the rest to follow in the ensuing races. Beyond reliability, engine performance is particularly important for the high-speed races at Spa and Monza, where the subsequent Italian Grand Prix will be held early next month. Related Video:

Sales incentive growth clustered around brands with few CUVs, trucks

While it's arguably been around the longest, the dominance of the four-door sedan has been under threat for many years. As a further sign of the hurtin' that SUVs and crossovers have put on today's four-doors, a new report from Automotive News points to the increasing use of incentives by brands reliant on cars and light on CUVs and pickups.
Honda, Toyota, Volkswagen and Kia have all been stung by double-digit increases in their incentives-to-transaction price ratio, according to AN, which cites data from TrueCar. Honda's ratio is up 14 percent, while Toyota, VW and Kia are up 18, 15 and 19 percent, respectively.
"Most of the incentive growth we have seen is in product segments with low demand - midsized or large sedans," TrueCar CEO John Krafcik told AN. "As this trend goes on, the brands with three-sedan strategies are going to be in worse shape on incentive spending than the crossover brands."