2009 Honda Civic Ex Coupe 2-door 1.8l 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 HR-V Prototype looks awfully familiar

Is there anything quite so exciting as seeing a brand-new vehicle for the very first time? Part of the allure of auto shows is the chance to see new ideas, just before they're fully baked and ready for public consumption. "Prototypes" you might say, of production models that are just around the corner. Or, in the case of the Honda HR-V, already down the block a ways.
Here in Paris, Honda has unveiled its HR-V Prototype, a nearly production-ready version of a "new SUV for Europe." Before we take umbrage with that SUV designation - as far as we can tell the Fit-based crossover isn't much of a mudder - we should address the fact that at this year's New York Auto Show in April, Honda handed over just a few images and specs of the actually production-read HR-V for the US. Presumably this is a "prototype" for Europe, where the NYC car is US-specific, but we're still scratching our heads a bit.
No matter! Here in France, Honda tells us that the utile little hatch will be available powered by both a 1.5-liter gasoline engine (the one American customers will see), and a 1.6-liter diesel unit, both wearing the company's Earth Dreams Technology label and presumably running cleaner and more frugally than ever. In Europe, a standard six-speed manual will come with both mills, while the 1.5-liter will offer the option of a continuously variable transmission.

A look inside Honda’s “Safety For Everyone” research and development operation

RAYMOND, Ohio—As part of its long-running “Safety for Everyone” campaign, Honda has established the audacious goal of what it calls a “zero-collision society.” But rather than making big claims about developing a fully-autonomous vehicle, which Honda hasnÂ’t done, the company is trying to chip away at the more than 37,000 vehicle-related fatalities that occurred in the U.S. in 2017 with a multi-pronged approach. Here in central Ohio, engineers are working with state-of-the-art facilities and equipment to boost active safety systems like its HondaSensing suite of safety technology with old fashioned passive systems like structural steel frames or new airbag designs that protect passengers in a crash. Honda provided members of the press with a rare tour inside its Honda R&D Americas headquarters this week. Honda officials say that increasingly, safety — and specifically, third-party ratings from the likes of the National Highway Safety Traffic Administration and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety — figure into the top three factors consumers weigh when purchasing a vehicle. Honda and Acura have 10, 2019 models that have earned IIHSÂ’s Top Safety Pick or Top Safety Pick+ ratings, and all 15, 2019 model-year Honda and Acura vehicles that have undergone NHTSA crash testing have earned a 5-star overall rating. And Honda prides itself on its growing list of safety firsts, including the first upward-deploying front passenger airbag, in 1990 in the Acura Legend; first omni-directional crash-test facility, in 2000; and the first autonomous braking system, in the 2006 Acura RL. It hopes its new three-chamber airbag goes industry-wide and joins that list. “ItÂ’s part of our companyÂ’s culture,” said Art St. Cyr, business head unit and vice president of auto operations for American Honda Motor Co. “We have a philosophy at Honda that we want to be a company that society wants to exist. That means we have to protect our customers. ThatÂ’s part of the whole mantra of doing this.” Opened in 1984, the 1.6 million square-foot Honda R&D Americas facility, located in the countryside about 45 miles northwest of Columbus, employs around 1,600 people and is HondaÂ’s largest research-and-development facility outside of Japan. Its Advanced Safety Research facility opened in 2003.