2006 Acura on 2040-cars

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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).

Hands-on with Acura's novel touchpad infotainment interface

After Acura's Precision Cockpit was unveiled here in LA, I sat in the, uh, driver's seat of the wheel-less interior mockup to get a feel for how this new touchscreen-free touch interface works. There are a lot of good ideas inside. Here are 11 things you should know. It's less like a trackpad and more like a remote-control tablet. So instead of letting you move a cursor relative to its last location like the trackpad on a laptop, each point on Acura's trackpad is mapped to a corresponding point on the center display. If you want what's in the upper right corner of the display, you touch and click in the upper right corner of the trackpad. Simple. I figured it out in two minutes. Maybe less. The whole thing is surprisingly intuitive. The ease of use is helped by the fact that the targets on the screen are pretty big – no tiny "buttons" to fiddle with. The clicks are real. The trackpad actually moves when you press down, so no need for simulated haptic feedback. In their research, Acura engineers found that accidental touches and presses are a real issue. We could have told them that – hit a bump while using a finicky remote interface like Lexus's all-but-abandoned joystick thing, and you select an item half-way across the screen from the one you intended. The placement of the trackpad in this concept interior also helps avoid unintentional inputs – it's not in the middle of the center console where it might get brushed or bumped, but instead in its own little cave at the base of the center-stack waterfall. (Acura's low-profile button-based transmission selector suddenly makes a whole lot of sense.) View 13 Photos Lots of cues cut down on distraction. You hover over the option you want before positively confirming the selection with a hard press. There's no cursor to find and reposition like in the Lexus trackpad system The red highlight gives the necessary visual cue that you put your finger in the right place. The pad is slightly dished to give you a tactile cue of where the center and edges are. It allows you to build up muscle memory, sort of like how you know generally where the "keys" are on your smartphone or tablet's virtual keyboard by now. Or at least I do on mine. You look at the screen, not what you're touching. The problem with touch screens is that they have to be low down in the car so you can reach them. That means you have to look down from the road to stab at what you want.

Acura Integra Prototype will be revealed next Thursday, Nov. 11

The Acura Integra Prototype’s world reveal is officially set for next week on Thursday, Nov. 11. Those who are impatiently waiting to see the car can finally mark a time on their calendars, as itÂ’s coming to you via a livestream event at 8:35 p.m. ET (5:35 p.m. PT) that day. The reveal is taking place in Los Angeles, the week before the L.A. Auto Show begins. Do note that Acura specified that this is the reveal for the Integra “Prototype,” not the final production car. If history is any indication, though, this Integra Prototype will closely resemble the production car in both exterior and interior design. Plus, thereÂ’s a chance Acura reveals a number of vital specs in addition to the design. Ever since Acura announced the return of the Integra name at this yearÂ’s Monterey Car Week, itÂ’s been teasing us with small bits of info. The first hint came that same day with a photo of the carÂ’s headlight and “Integra” stamped into the bumper. Then came a photo from the rear three-quarter, revealing that it would be a four-door hatchback. Finally, Acura emphatically announced (with a sweet shift-banging video) that the Integra would offer a six-speed manual transmission. Hurrah! Next Thursday will see the reveal of much, much more, so make sure you tune in to see everything Acura has to show. WeÂ’ll be on the ground in L.A., and will also have the livestream waiting for you to watch when itÂ’s reveal time. Related video: