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Profit at Honda doubles on strong global sales of cars and motorcycles

TOKYO — Honda reported Wednesday that its April-June profit more than doubled on healthy sales of its motorcycles and cars, as the Japanese company also received a perk from favorable exchange rates. Honda Motor Co. said its fiscal first quarter profit totaled 363 billion yen ($2.5 billion), up from 149 billion yen. Quarterly sales jumped 21% to 4.6 trillion yen ($32 billion). HondaÂ’s financial service division also reported growing sales. Honda said its profitability improved, especially in North America, where production recovered. Automakers around the world were slammed by supply shortages because of production delays related to social restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. But such restrictions have eased, allowing production to pick up again. Auto sales were about the same in Japan in the latest quarter as in the previous year, while dropping significantly in China because of intense competition from makers of battery electric vehicles, Honda said. Honda is banking on growth in EVs in the U.S. market, where it recently announced it is joining six other companies in the creation of a high-powered charging network across North America. Worries about climate change have helped set off a dramatic shift in the auto industry toward battery electric vehicles, allowing for relative newcomers like Tesla and BYD to prosper, while catching some Japanese makers off guard with their hybrids and regular gasoline-powered models. Honda said a computer chip shortage crimped its motorcycle sales in India, while sales rebounded in Indonesia as production recovered. Honda said it sold 901,000 vehicles in the latest quarter, up from 815,000 a year earlier. It also sold more motorcycles worldwide at nearly 4.5 million, up from 4.2 million. Honda added 23 billion yen ($160 million) to its quarterly operating profit because of the impact of currency exchange rates. A weaker yen, trading lately at about 143 yen to the U.S. dollar, is a boon for Japanese exporters by boosting the amount of its overseas earnings when converted into yen. Honda stuck to its full year projection of an 800 billion yen ($5.6 billion) profit, up from 651 billion yen a year earlier. Honda shares slipped 0.9% on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Related video: Earnings/Financials Acura Honda

No diesels in the running for 2016 Green Car Of The Year

It's a new era for the Green Car Of The Year. In the past, the theme of the award was to take a broad look at alternative powertrains and pick the best among them. "Clean diesels" from the Volkswagen group were often among the finalists and won the award twice. For the 2016 edition - which will be handed out at the LA Auto Show next month - not a single diesel made the list. There's little wonder why. Green Car Journal, which names the winner with a panel of experts, had to strip two VW brand vehicles of their past wins. The 2009 VW Jetta TDI, which won in 2008, and the 2010 Audi A3 TDI, which won in 2010, have both lost their titles now that the world knows about the "defeat devices" that VW installed in many of its TDI vehicles around the world. So, what does that leave us with for 2016? Two plug ins, a hybrid, and two gas vehicles. The two electric vehicle are the Audi A3 e-tron and the Chevy Volt, while the all-new Toyota Prius (which will come with a plug-in version later) is the lone pure hybrid. Rounding out the pack are two efficient gas models: the Hyundai Sonata and the Honda Civic. This is the tenth year for the Green Car Of The Year, and it will be interesting to see if diesels can come back into the award's good graces (for the record, no diesels were among the finalists in 2013, either) in the future. For now, we'd like to know who you think should win. You can read more about the finalists in the press release below and then cast your vote in our poll. Show full PR text FINALISTS ANNOUNCED FOR 2016 GREEN CAR OF THE YEAR Green Car Journal to Reveal Winner of 11th Annual Award at LA Auto Show Press & Trade Days, November 19 LOS ANGELES, CA (October 15, 2015) – Green Car Journal has announced its five finalists for the magazine's prestigious 2016 Green Car of the Year® award. The 2016 models include the Audi A3 e-tron, Chevrolet Volt, Honda Civic, Hyundai Sonata, and Toyota Prius. An increasing number of vehicle models are considered for the Green Car of the Year® program each year, a reflection of the auto industry's expanding efforts in offering new vehicles with higher efficiency and improved environmental impact. Green Car Journal has been honoring the most important "green" vehicles every year at the LA Auto Show, since its inaugural award announced at the show in 2005.

Fernando Alonso expects to retire after McLaren-Honda

When Fernando Alonso was three years old, his father gave him a model of a McLaren-Honda grand prix car. That's where his path to Formula One started, and it's where he wants his career to end as well. Speaking with Autosport, the two-time world champion indicated that he intends to retire after he's done at McLaren, rather than switch to another team. Of course, he didn't indicate just when that would be, but as far as he's concerned, the road ends in Woking. The highly rated and immensely successful Spanish driver has been on the grid for fourteen years now. He started out with Minardi (precursor to Toro Rosso) in 2001, then spent four seasons with Renault, where he scored back-to-back world titles. He then switched to McLaren for one year, where he won four races, then back to Renault for another three where he and the team fell off their form. Fernando subsequently switched to Ferrari where he spent the last five seasons, thrice finishing second in the world championship but never quite managing to clinch an elusive third title. This year he's back at McLaren but has had a bumpy start. After crashing during a pre-season test session, he sat out the season opener, and failed to finish the second round in Malaysia. He's now in Shanghai preparing for this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix. Like this writer, he'll be turning 34 in July, making him the fourth oldest driver on the grid this year. So he's still got a good few years in him, and will likely want to see the troubled rekindling of the McLaren-Honda partnership through to winning form. But while nobody can tell what the future will bring, it looks like any other team that hopes to lure the champ away could end up disappointed.