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Honda giving away free Civics in Forza Horizon to celebrate launch

Just a friendly reminder from Honda: The Honda Challenge Pack DLC is now available for Forza Horizon. To reward you for the trouble of pressing a few buttons on your Xbox controller, you'll get the 2013 Honda Civic Coupe, an HPD Rally Fit and a 1986 Honda Civic Si Coupe in your garage, and you'll get them free. The event of the new DLC has also kicked off a photo contest that will reward someone with an Xbox 360 console wrapped in a Honda Civic Si theme.
Otherwise, the word "Challenge" keeps coming up because of the chance to run an online race against IndyCar driver Scott Dixon. The track for that digital throwdown has already been decided by Xbox players who voted before January 8. Yet it's not too late to hop into the Honda section in Xbox Live and lay down a time fast enough for a shot at the title "The Driver That Shellacked Scott Dixon," and meeting the man in person.
Check out the press release from Honda below, and the sweetness that is the 1986 Civic Si in the gallery above.

Hurricane Sandy cost automakers 15,000 vehicles, may have ruined up to 200k

Hurricane Sandy was the largest Atlantic storm in US history, and its total economic impact is just now coming into view. According to Automotive News, Toyota, Chrysler, Nissan and Honda are set to scrap around 15,000 new vehicles ruined by the storm. Nissan alone accounts for about 40 percent of those, with 6,000 Nissan and Infiniti models deeded "un-saleable" due to damage. The company saw 56 dealerships shuttered due to the storm, but 51 of those have since reopened.
Toyota, meanwhile, had some 4,000 vehicles at its Newark port facility, and of those, 3,000 may be scrapped. An additional 825 were dealer inventory when they were ruined. Honda and Acura dealers are reportedly sending 3,440 vehicles to the salvage yard. By comparison, Chrysler weathered the storm fairly well with 825 units destroyed, while Hyundai suffered only 400 lost units and Kia scrapped around 200.
As you may recall, Fisker also suffered some losses, and Automotive News reports the manufacturer saw 320 Karma models damaged beyond repair. Ford and General Motors have yet to come up with estimates, and no automaker has commented on the full cost of replacing the vehicles.

Ford S-Max Concept proves minivans aren't always minivans [w/video]

Ford's latest don't-call-it-a-minivan is called the S-Max Concept, and it's a looker. As you can see, the conceptual overgrown hatch makes good use of Ford's latest design language, especially at the very front of the S-Max, which bears a striking resemblance to production models that include the Focus, C-Max and Fusion.
Powering the S-Max Concept is a 1.5-liter EcoBoost engine, and while Ford doesn't actually list power figures for the concept, previous estimates put the mill at 133 kW of power (about 178 horsepower) and 240 Nm of torque (about 177 pound-feet). Inside, there's room for seven passengers and at least some of their luggage.
As you'd expect, the S-Max is loaded up with all of Ford's latest infotainment technology, including Sync and MyFordTouch. More interestingly, there are also onboard heart and blood glucose monitors that we doubt will be seeing the light of production anytime soon. On that topic, don't expect to see any S-Max-shaped vehicles hitting the US market from Ford, either. Scroll down below for the press release, but not before checking out the high-res image gallery above.