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Honda launches new Fit in Japan, has big expectations for North America

Honda has officially launched the Fit sub-compact in its home market, ahead of its eventual arrival in North America. The third-generation Fit is wildly important for Honda, with the company's president, Takanobu Ito, saying, "This is the most important model."
The third-generation Fit is a ground-up reworking of the car that we've come to know. It will pioneer Honda's new design language, Exciting H Design (seriously) and will also be the very first Fit to be manufactured in North America. Thanks to a Mexican factory that is scheduled to open in the spring of 2014, Honda will be able to produce 200,000 Fits for the North American market in North America, saving the brand a huge amount of cash.
As for that Exciting H Design, it's meant to be sleeker and more modern, according to Automotive News. It's not bad looking, but the overall design is far less important than what's under that hood. The vehicle you see above is a Fit RS, which has quite a resemblance to the rumored Fit Mugen. There's not a lot of detail on this model, but based on looks alone, we certainly hope it'll be coming to the North American market - it'd make a great Fit Sport. A hybrid variant will also come to the US market, and that car is returning impressive numbers on the Japanese cycle: 86 miles per gallon so far, thanks to the combination of an 1.5-liter, Atkinson-cycle, four-cylinder engine and a seven-speed, dual-clutch transmission. That's a 35-percent improvement over the current, JDM Fit Hybrid.

Recharge Wrap-up: Elon Musk in Reddit AMA; Honda releases annual environmental report

Elon Musk will answer questions in a Reddit AMA tonight. The "Ask Me Anything" event will begin at 9:00 pm EST, and will last one hour. Musk will answer as many reader questions as he can in the allotted amount of time. Reddit's /r/TeslaMotors board is selecting official questions from users to pose to Musk as well. If you have any aching inquiries for the CEO of Tesla and Spacex, you probably don't want to miss this. Read more at Clean Technica, or at Reddit. Powertree Services plans to build solar-powered EV charging at San Francisco apartment buildings. The group will rent parking spaces at apartment buildings and put solar panels on the roof. Tenants with EVs can pay a monthly fee to charge their cars at their own apartments and Powertree Services parking spots around town. It takes the responsibility of building and maintaining the chargers off the building owners, but provides them with some revenue from renting the space to Powertree. Read more at Treehugger. The market for environmentally friendly cars will remain strong despite cheap oil prices, according to IHS Automotive Advisory Services. James Chao, director of the company's Asia-Pacific region, says his clients are still very focused on fuel economy. IHS has predicted green car production to triple by 2020 from 2014 figures. Hyundai and Kia, who are clients of Chao, have new EVs, hybrids, plug-in hybrids and fuel-cell vehicles on the way - a seemingly "unfocused" plan that Chao defends. "Especially at times when uncertainty is dominant, it could well be referred to as being prudent," he says. Read more at The Korea Herald. Honda has released its annual North American Environmental Report. In the report, Honda notes environmental progress it has made over the last year in a number of areas. It points out the introduction of the 2014 Accord Hybrid and the FCV Concept. It enumerates reductions in greenhouse gas emissions in transportation, use of its products and even from Honda's suppliers (however, there was a 0.7 percent rise in CO2 emissions during manufacturing due to, or rather "despite a significant increase in production"). Honda is using less water, and producing less waste - only 0.8 kilograms are sent to the landfill per car manufactured. Honda also worked with SolarCity to get solar panels on 1,650 rooftops in the US. Read more on Honda's website. Marco Andretti will race in the Formula E Buenos Aires ePrix.

Driving the BMW M2 Competition, Honda Odyssey and Toyota RAV4 Prime | Autoblog Podcast #651

In this week's Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by West Coast Editor James Riswick. This week, they talk about driving the BMW M2 Competition, Honda Odyssey and Toyota RAV4 Prime. Then they discuss James' experience testing the new Yakima CBX cargo carrier, Autoblog readers' preference for the GMC Hummer EV over the Tesla Cybertruck, and Mercedes-Benz taking a larger stake in Aston Martin. Lastly, they help James' father find a new car in the Spend My Money segment. Autoblog Podcast #651 Get The Podcast iTunes – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Rundown Cars we're driving 2020 BMW M2 Competition 2021 Honda Odyssey 2021 Toyota RAV4 Prime Testing the Yakima CBX Cargo Carrier on the Subaru Outback 75% of Autoblog Twitter follower prefer the GMC Hummer EV over the Tesla Cybertruck Mercedes-Benz to boost stake in Aston Martin to 20%, lend it some tech Spend JamesÂ’ fatherÂ’s money Feedback Email – Podcast@Autoblog.com Review the show on iTunes Related Video: