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Honda CEO says we shouldn't expect any new sports cars

It wasn't so long ago that Honda was known for its sporty two-door models, with models ranging from the Civic del Sol to the Prelude and from the Acura Integra and RSX to the Honda S2000. But look at its range today and all you'll see are the Civic and Accord coupes. Honda has essentially let competitors like the Scion FR-S/Subaru BRZ and Nissan 370Z take the place it once claimed as its own. But if you were hoping Honda would fight back with a new coupe or convertible of its own, we're afraid you're going to have to downgrade those hopes to pipe dreams.
While in Japan ahead of the Tokyo Motor Show, Autoblog had a chance to sit down with American Honda CEO Tetsuo Iwamura (pictured at right). When we asked about the potential for a new sports coupe or convertible in the Honda or Acura lineup, he pointed to the current Civic and Accord coupes - not to mention the upcoming new NSX - but said that Honda has no replacement for any of the aforementioned models (or a rival for the FR-S or 370Z) in the pipeline, saying only that the company is monitoring potential demand.
What Iwamura-san did note was that he's a personal fan of the new S660 roadster (pictured above) set to be unveiled tomorrow, and he is pushing (or at least hoping) that it will come to North America. Given that he's head of both Honda's American office and its global automobile operations, one might think that the only person he would have to persuade is himself (well... himself, and potential buyers), but the sporty droptop looks to be about kei-sized, which sadly suggests that it may be too small for American tastes and perhaps not designed with US crash-test standards in mind anyway.

Judge allows class-action lawsuits against Honda, automakers

Millions of plaintiffs in 2014 brought a class-action lawsuit in against Takata and Honda, and the airbag manufacturer and carmaker petitioned to have the case thrown out. A US District Judge in Miami ruled against the companies on December 3, allowing the case to proceed. The case in question, Craig Dunn et al vs. Takata Corporation et al, is thought to be the first class action filed in the ongoing airbag imbroglio. Other cases have been filed, but on behalf of individuals. Takata and Honda are named defendants in the case, but the 453-page suit is also aimed at BMW, Ford, Mazda, Nissan, and Subaru. The plaintiffs claim violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act specifically by Takata and Honda, alleging that those two companies conspired to hide information about airbag inflators that could rupture and spray shrapnel around a car's cockpit. Honda said Takata hid information from it and ceased doing business with the airbag company, while a recent Wall Street Journal review of documents indicated that Takata changed testing information to suppress actual results from Honda. The class-action suit charges violations of the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, too. Meanwhile, Takata has strengthened its legal team with the addition of Lanny Breuer, a partner at Covington & Burling LLP. Breuer was a US assistant attorney general from 2009 to 2013, heading the criminal division. Honda has been dealing with individual cases out of court, with litigation in cases of five out of six US deaths settled for undisclosed sums.

2017 Honda Civic Type R mule sports sweet exhaust

The 2016 Honda Civic might be one the most-spied cars in recent memory, but the wait to actually see the new model is just a few days away on Sept. 16. That big reveal is only for the sedan, but these fresh shots show a sporty variant of the five-door that our spies speculate could preview bits of the next-gen Civic Type R. These photos seem to show the same variant recently spotted in Spain, but there are some notable differences and better angles here. Up front, the styling still shows the same Acura-like design as the patent drawings, but these images make it much easier to spot the narrow mesh in the grilles of the lower air dam. The major change along the side is the new set of big, black wheels with low-profile tires, and this setup fits the style much better than the earlier car. Plus, you can easily spot larger front brake discs and a Brembo logo on the caliper this time. Thankfully, these photos provide a much better look at the earlier example's weird, center-mounted exhaust layout, too. It appears that the larger pipes on the outside each have their own muffler, but there doesn't appear to be one for the smaller outlet in the middle. There's still the possibility this could be a way of testing the single-exit design from the 2016 Civic concept. We know the next-gen Civic will be offered as a sedan, coupe, and five-door. Plus, Si and Type R trims will eventually join the lineup. At the current rate of spy shots, we'll see them all well before their respective reveals. Related Video: