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Honda discontinuing Euro Accord, no replacement in sight

Honda has built two Accords for many years. There's the one we're familiar with here in the United States, and then there's the Accord sold in markets like Europe and Australia, known here in the US as the Acura TSX. But just like Acura did with the TSX, the Euro-market Accord has been discontinued.
The news comes from The Motor Report in Australia, which is reporting that the Accord Euro will be discontinued in 2015. Sold Down Under alongside the US-market model, the discontinuation of the Aussie car indicates an end to Honda's midsize sedan efforts in Europe, where there is no obvious replacement for the four-door and wagon models.
According to TMR, Honda Australia Director Stephen Collins indicated that focus will be placed instead on the US market "wide-body" model, as it's known. That said, this decision doesn't sound like it's sitting too well in Oz.

Acura built just 91 examples of the ILX last month, here's why

The short life of the Acura ILX has been vexed by one glaringly odd standard equipment choice, mediocre reviews, getting outsold by its competition as it posted slower-than-projected sales and a pledge by Honda to upgrade its supposedly upgraded offering. Therefore, when Automotive News reports that just 91 of the Civic-based Acura sedans were manufactured last month - after a string of production months in double-digits - it would be easy to press the button for the alarm bells.
But that would be hasty, because it is actually the 2013 Honda Civic that is crimping the production pipeline of the ILX. The vastly higher sales numbers of the Honda meant that all three North American plants that produce it needed to crank up output to satisfy dealer inventory needs, including the Greenburg, Indiana plant that makes both the Civic and the ILX. As the classic guns-vs-butter Economy 101 lesson taught us - in which making more of one necessarily means making less of the other - well, the Civic is the gun.
Honda prepared for this eventuality by cranking out the Acuras while it got ready for Civic production. The ILX has held steady at about 500 units shy of company projections every month, and the current inventory represents about 90 days worth of sales. That makes Greenburg's ostensibly low numbers in line with the realities of the ILX, and the situation probably won't change much as Acura gets ready for the improved 2014 ILX.

Honda Urban SUV concept previews Fit-based crossover

We've been hearing a lot of rumblings this year about a new crossover based on the Honda Fit, and now we finally get to see what this B-segment CUV might look like. Called the Urban SUV Concept, Honda's new small crossover has made its debut at the Detroit Auto Show, but we'll have to wait until 2014 to see the production version on sale in the US. Honda says the production version of this concept, whatever it will be called, will slot below the CR-V in terms of size and price.
In terms of this concept's styling, there is plenty of the new Honda Accord in its face, and it looks like a more rugged version of the Nissan Juke, as well as a more practical alternative to the Hyundai Veloster. With its short overhangs, the concept measures 169.3 inches in length, making it about eight inches longer than a Fit hatchback and nine inches shorter than the CR-V. Honda confirmed that its new crossover will debut a telematics system for Honda, and it will use one of Honda's new Earth Dreams engines; we previously reported that this engine would be a 1.5-liter I4 paired with a continuously variable transmission.
The next-generation Fit is expected to debut before this new crossover model, and both models will be built at Honda's Celaya, Mexico assembly plant, which is scheduled to open early next year. A new sedan is also expected to round out the lineup of Fit-based products. For more information about this new Urban SUV Concept, scroll down for Honda's official press release.