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This three-cylinder Honda is faster than a Bugatti Veyron

Honda's S660 roadster, a tiny Japanese sports car that makes a Mazda MX-5 Miata look large, is powered by a three-cylinder engine that puts out 63 horsepower. As you might imagine, it's not very fast. Stick that engine into a vehicle that closely resembles the HondaJet, though, and it sets a new FIA class record of 261.875 miles per hour at the Bonneville Salt Flats. While the S-Dream Streamliner's three-cylinder, 600-cc engine is similar to the one found in the S660, it has been heavily modified to produce what Honda claims is three times the original amount of power. A Veyron-beating top speed from roughly 190 hp is still plenty impressive. The record car topped out at 266 mph at one point, but it didn't match that speed on the return run. The team of 16 Japanese Honda engineers, who were chosen from a pool of 100 volunteers, set a new FIA World Record for a vehicle in the class – Category-A Group-1 Class-4 – and even bested Honda's previous land speed record at Bonneville, set by the Honda Racing F1 team in 2006. The V10-powered F1 car averaged 248.548 mph. The aerodynamic vehicle was piloted by Japanese motorcycle rider Hikaru Miyagi, who can now claim having driven the fastest Honda car ever. The company still has some way to go, though, before one of its land vehicles surpasses the HondaJet, which can travel at approximately 485 mph. Related Video: Featured Gallery Honda S-Dream Streamliner News Source: HondaImage Credit: Honda Honda Lightweight Vehicles Racing Vehicles Special and Limited Editions fia world record bonneville salt flats honda s660

Honda: We won't be able to sell ICE cars in China by 2025

China's push to clean up the country's woeful air pollution levels could mean the end of the traditional internal combustion engine there. In an interview with WardsAuto, Keiji Ohtsu, Honda's chief technology strategy officer at the company's automobile R&D center, predicts a lineup only of models with electric assistance in the country within a decade. He also discusses the Japanese automaker's green car goals worldwide. Ohtsu foresees China adopting some of the strictest fuel economy standards in the world in the coming years. "In 2025, we don't expect to be able to sell conventional internal-combustion engines [there], meaning we will be selling mostly hybrids including plug-in types," he said to WardsAuto. China's push to clean up its air comes as major cities continue to struggle with massive levels of pollution. For example, Beijing recently banned half of the cars from the road due to dire levels of smog. To fight back, the government has pushed automakers to launch more plug-ins, and the strategy has shown some success. China's BYD has already become the world's largest producer of plug-in vehicles in 2015. Even outside of China, Honda intends to become a far greener automaker in the coming years. In the near term, the company expects 20 percent of its global volume could be hybrids by 2020. According to Ohtsu, as much as 80 percent of Japanese deliveries could have some form or electrification by that time, but the US would be closer to 20 percent. However, the company sees hybrids more as a stepping stone than as the future of motoring, and the mass adoption of hydrogen is the real goal. "We think that fuel-cell vehicles will come into the mainstream in 2030, along with battery-powered electric cars. We also feel that going forward hydrogen will be the best fuel alternative," Ohtsu said to WardsAuto. Honda's experimental FCEV (pictured above) already hints at the brand's future direction.

Honda Accord barely edges Toyota Prius as California's best-selling car

The Toyota Prius definitely still matters, at least to car buyers in California. The long-lived hybrid was the state's second-bestselling vehicle in 2014 by moving 71,210 units across all of its variants, including the Prius C. The Toyota was the leader there in 2012 and 2013 but lost the sales crown this time – just barely – to the Honda Accord, which sold 71,578 examples. The results in the Golden State illustrate just how different the auto market there is compared to the rest of the country. Prius sales slumped last year nationwide with a drop of 11.5 percent to 207,372 examples sold. However, according to the LA Times, the model's numbers ticked up two percent in California in 2014. Taken by itself, the standard hatchback model would have been the sixth-bestseller there, with 39,036 units purchased. While the Toyota showed modest growth, it wasn't enough to fend off the Accord's 17 percent year-over-year jump in the state, though. According to the Los Angeles Times, the rest of the California top ten included the Honda Civic, Toyota Camry, Corolla, Ford F-Series, CR-V, Nissan Altima, Sentra and Chevrolet Silverado, respectively. That list was quite a departure from the nationwide bestsellers in 2014, which was led by the F-Series, Silverado and Ram pickups. The Camry was the country's foremost car on the list in fourth place overall to beat the Accord in fifth. The Prius didn't break into the ten biggest sellers in the US last year. Related Video: Featured Gallery 2014 Honda Accord V6 Touring: Review View 42 Photos News Source: LA TimesImage Credit: Copyright 2015 Drew Phillips / AOL Green Honda Toyota Car Buying Hatchback Hybrid Sedan sales California hybrid sales toyota prius c