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2015 Honda Fit production gets underway in Mexico

After two years of construction, Honda's new factory in Celaya, Mexico, has officially begun production of the all-new 2015 Fit in North America. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and Honda President and CEO Takanobu Ito both attended the opening and watched the first Fit roll off the line at the $800-million plant. Later this year, Honda will add production of its new Vezel small crossover to the new facility, though the latter is expected to be marketed in North America under a new name.
The Celaya factory will specialize in building subcompact cars by employing cutting-edge tech to use less material and less energy during production. Honda is still constructing a $470-million transmission plant on the campus to build continuously variable transmissions in the second half of 2015. When it's finished, it is expected to have an annual capacity of 200,000 vehicles and employ 3,200 people.
With the facility's completion, Honda now has a 1.92-million unit annual production capacity in North America, and it claims that when Celaya reaches full production, 95-percent of vehicles sold in the US will be built in North America. The new Fit has already proven quite popular in Japan, and now we will have to wait and see if North American buyers embrace it as well. The first new Fit customer cars will hit the roads later this spring, and as Honda spokesman Steve Kinkade tells Autoblog, all Fit models sold in North American will be built at the plant. Scroll down to read the full press release about the Fit and its new Mexican home.

NHTSA Probes Nearly 400,000 Infiniti, Honda Vehicles Over Steering Faults

As many as 391,000 vehicles from Honda and Infiniti may eventually need to be recalled as a result of two, separately announced Preliminary Evaluations from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to ascertain the scope of the potential safety hazards. In one of the queries, NHTSA is looking into 24 reports from drivers of the 2013 Honda Accord who say they had total loss of their power steering or experienced a sudden increase in the necessary effort to turn the wheel. In four cases, the problem may be linked to crashes. According to the claims, 13 people reported seeing a warning message during the failure. Turning off the car and restarting it would fix the issue in some cases. If a recall is necessary, it could affect an estimated 374,000 Accords. The second investigation is much smaller in scope. The safety agency is investigating the 2008 Infiniti EX35 after two complaints of the steering wheel shaft separating and the vehicle losing the ability to steer. Both reports say the steering became loose when driving and then completely failed once the vehicle was stopped. A recall for the problem would affect an estimated 17,000 vehicles. Recalls Honda Infiniti Safety NHTSA steering

In Honda Super Bowl ad, Ridgeline teaches sheep to sing

Honda hopes that its Super Bowl ad's combination of a classic Queen song and an adorable premise are enough to get customers excited about the 2017 Ridgeline. The 60-second spot for the new pickup airs during the game's third quarter, and the commercial is sure to leave Somebody to Love stuck in your head. The spot titled A New Truck to Love stars a sheep rancher who likes to listen to Freddie Mercury while hauling animals to the field. He even uses the truck's bed-mounted stereo to enjoy some tunes while at work. The sheep apparently like Queen's songs because they start singing along when their owner is away. This is the one of the better auto ads for Super Bowl 50 that we've seen yet. A look at the truck's capabilities would be nice, but at least the commercial's premise is highly enjoyable. Plus, it's hard not to enjoy Queen. Honda's spot could be a popular one during this year's game. Innovative 2017 Honda Ridgeline Pickup Leads the Flock in New Super Bowl Commercial Feb 1, 2016 60-second commercial features music by Queen, performed by some unlikely and unforgettable co-stars Directed by Bryan Buckley, creator of more than 40 Super Bowl ads Extensive multiplatform campaign to support launch of new TV spot Consumers can enter to win a first drive of new Honda truck at "Camp Ridgeline" Honda today offered a sneak peek of the brand's commercial for Super Bowl 50 starring the highly innovative 2017 Honda Ridgeline pickup, a wily herding dog and a flock of sheep singing a classic Queen song, "Somebody to Love." Fans tuning in to Super Bowl 50 on Sunday, Feb. 7, will see the 60-second spot, "A New Truck to Love," during the third quarter, but the entertaining commercial is now available for viewing in its entirety on Honda's YouTube channel (http://honda.us/BigGameCommercial). Directed by Oscar-nominated director Bryan Buckley — dubbed "King of the Super Bowl" for his role in bringing to life more than 40 commercials for the big game — the new Honda commercial imagines how a rancher might use one of Ridgeline's available features, the industry's very first factory truck-bed audio system, enabling music to play outside the truck. This poses the question, "What if his sheep learned how to sing?" with the commercial showing the sheep being dropped off by the new Ridgeline and then performing the classic Queen hit after the rancher departs. The spot signals not only Honda's return to the Super Bowl, but the return of the all-new Ridgeline to market.