Honda: Pilot Extra Clean One Owner on 2040-cars

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Next Honda Ridgeline to eschew weird visuals, go mainstream?

Last year, Honda gave us the first furtive glance at the next-generation Ridgeline with a shadowy photo of it in profile (above), and it promised that the pickup would "come to market in less than two years." That would have put the truck on track for a 2015 debut, but the automaker hasn't said anything more officially about the new model since then.
A new report from USA Today might shed some new light on the mysterious model. It claims that the next Ridgeline has more conventional pickup styling than the original model in a bid to conquest some buyers. You can get that feeling from the sketch, which appears to showing something far more traditional than the unorthodox original Ridgeline, whose odd tapering bedsides terminated in a double-hinged tailgate.
USA Today goes on to claim that the new Ridgeline will go on sale around late 2015 or early 2016. That's a bit later than expected, but fits with an earlier rumor.

Honda invests $215M in Ohio Earth Dreams production

Honda has announced a $215 million investment in a pair of its Ohio operations, taking its total tally for North American operations up to $2.7 billion in three years. The announcement was made at the 2013 Center For Automotive Research Management Briefing Seminars in Traverse City.
$180 million of the investment is earmarked for Honda's Anna, OH engine plant. The money will allow the facility to increase its aluminum die casting and increase production of Honda's Earth Dreams Technology engines. Think of Earth Dreams as sort of like Mazda's Skyactiv line, only ED is limited to a new line of engines, rather than a full suite of automotive components. Anna will also be getting a new technical center to train engineers, techs, and line workers on powertrain technology.
The remaining $35 million is slated for Honda's main Ohio operations in Marysville. A 160,000-square-foot facility will be constructed near Honda's current properties, which will house another technical training center to focus on automotive manufacturing. The new building will also house Honda's North American Services group, as well as a new heritage center.

Honda Jazz Prototype is brand's latest production-ready 'concept'

Another auto show, another Honda "prototype." The brand has made something of a habit of showing very thinly veiled production models at the world's auto shows, ranging from the Accord, to the Civic and Civic Type-R, as well as the CR-V. And yes, this is far from the first time we've railed against this particular trend (it's not even the first time at this auto show). Now, it's time to preview the production-ready Jazz, known to American consumers as the recently released Fit.
As we covered in our original post on the Jazz Prototype, this car is pretty much a twin to the Fit, aside from its 1.3-liter engine. Sitting in place of the US-market 1.5-liter four-cylinder, the Earth Dreams 1.3 is probably a bit more suited to the tighter urban environments of the European Union. While the engine might be different, the six-speed manual and continuously variable transmission will be plenty familiar to US consumers.
We have a full live gallery of the new Jazz Prototype at the top of the page. Take a look at that, and then scroll down for Honda's press release and official images.