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Honda names first woman, foreigner to its board of directors

General Motors may have made headlines when it recently appointed the industry's first female CEO, but Honda has long lagged woefully behind the times when it comes to the diversity of its top management. In fact, its entire board has until now been composed entirely of Japanese men, with not a foreigner or a woman in sight. But as Reuters reports, that's all changing with the nominations to its latest board.
The slate of new directors named to Honda's board includes one Hideko Kunii, a gender-equality advocate and engineering professor from the Shibaura Institute of Technology. A graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, Kunii spent the bulk of her career at Japanese electronic imaging company Ricoh. Alongside Kunii, Honda has also named Tomoko Mizoguchi to the board as responsible for the company's South American operations, making him the first foreigner to serve on the company's board of directors. (Well, almost: Mizoguchi was born in Brazil, but of Japanese ancestry.)
The appointments follow the recent switch Honda made in its official language policy from Japanese to English, signaling a shift in outlook for a company that has long stuck to traditional Japanese business models. Honda was the first of the major Japanese automakers to begin manufacturing in the United States, and has long relied on hiring local managers to run its regional operations around the world. It has, however, resisted placing foreigners on its board of directors until now, relying instead on senior male managers promoted from within its ranks to serve on its board. This in comparison to Toyota, which has seven foreigners and one woman on its 68-member board of directors, and Nissan, which has fifteen foreigners (including its chief executive) and one woman on its 58-member board.

2016 Honda Pilot is brand's first non-hybrid with stop-start

Honda has gotten rid of the boxy styling of the outgoing Pilot for a more aerodynamic look that mimics its smaller sibling, the popular CR-V. The 2016 Honda Pilot – which goes on sale this summer – has a larger, eight-inch display screen, an improved navigation system and up to five USB ports to power the family's devices. The new Pilot was introduced at the 2015 Chicago Auto Show this week. New amenities include an optional heated steering wheel and heated second-row seats. Under the hood is a new 3.5-liter, direct injected V-6 engine with start-stop technology – Honda calls it " Idle Stop technology" – to save on fuel. Buyers can choose one of two new transmissions, a six-speed or a nine-speed, and front-wheel-drive or all-wheel-drive configurations. Green Car Congress notes that this is the first time Honda has put stop-start technology into a non-hybrid vehicle. Fuel economy wasn't announced, but increased use of lighter materials has dropped 300 pounds of weight, so the new Pilot should beat the old model's 25 mpg on the highway. New safety features include LED high beams that automatically dim for oncoming traffic and Honda's first road departure mitigation system - borrowed from Acura - which monitors the vehicle's road position and can correct the steering or brake if it senses an imminent collision. Related Video: The AP contributed to this report. Featured Gallery 2016 Honda Pilot: Chicago 2015 View 19 Photos News Source: Honda, Green Car Congress Green Chicago Auto Show Honda mpg stop start

Honda next to open museum to Google Street View

Had your fill of tooling around the Lamborghini Museum on Google Street View? Maybe Italian supercars aren't your thing? Then we've got good news, because The House That Ferruccio Built isn't the only automotive museum in cyberspace: now the Honda Collection Hall has opened its doors to the crew from Mountain View, too.
The Honda Collection Hall, for those who haven't made it out to Japan's Tochigi Prefecture, is a grand three-story museum dedicated to all things Honda. It's located at the Twin Ring Motegi, and has been open since 1998. Inside visitors will find everything from robots and scooters to SUVs and racing cars. But if you can't make it there in person, you can check out all three levels of floorspace on Street View right from the comfort of your home. Check out the images above and the interactive map below.