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Honda to import Euro market Civic hatch to America

If you look at the Civic sedan Honda offers in America and look longingly at the hatchback version it sells in Europe, we've got good news. The latest word has it that the Japanese automaker will start offering the Euro-spec hatch in North America. The reason, however, may surprise you. According to Nikkei Asian Review, Honda wants to start selling the Civic hatchback in America less because it thinks that's the model Americans want, and more because it has excess capacity at its plant in the UK. Bringing it to the US would also give Honda an entry against the Volkswagen Golf and other competitors. Honda's plant in Swindon, England, is its sole assembly location in Europe, where the company's market share has dropped to a reported one percent. That doesn't mean Honda is giving up on the European market and its strong currencies, but with models like the HR-V to be manufactured in Mexico and the new Fit/Jazz to be imported from Japan, the Swindon plant doesn't have enough vehicles to produce to make use of its annual capacity of 250,000 vehicles. Producing 30,000-40,000 Civic hatchbacks each year for North America would help pick up some of the slack, but not all of it. It would also only represent a small fraction of the number of Civic sedans Honda moves here. Last year Honda sold over 325,000 Civics in America and over 336,000 the year before, making the Civic its second- or third-most popular model here after the Accord and closely positioned with the CR-V crossover. The reported number of Civic hatchbacks it would sell here wouldn't even keep up with the smaller Fit, but would far overshadow the CR-Z hybrid hatchback. The bigger question that performance enthusiasts will be asking is: What does this mean for the prospects of getting the new Type R hot hatch over here? Revealed in production form at the Geneva show earlier this month, the new Civic Type R is based on the European hatchback in question. Prior to the emergence of this report, the official line was that we wouldn't get the new performance model because its bodystyle isn't offered here altogether, and that our version would more likely be based on the sedan. If the five-door model makes its way here, though, we can't help but wonder if the Type R might not follow close behind. Reached for comment, Honda's US office didn't have anything official to add, but we'll be watching this development closely to see how it plays out. Related Video:

Custom Honda motorcycles perfect for evading zombies in The Walking Dead

With characters constantly being killed off, the zombie-infested world of AMC's The Walking Dead definitely isn't one of the more lighthearted shows on TV. Still, getting to be an actor on the show looks like one of the best jobs around, especially with a recent two-wheeled addition of a zombie-hunting Honda for one character. Early in the series, Norman Reedus' character Daryl Dixon rode a motorcycle but lost it over the course of the series' tumultuous stories. When talking with producers about future stories, he said that he wanted to be on a bike again, and they agreed. Reedus suggested Classified Moto to the producers because the company had already built a custom cycle for him. The builders there came up with a pair of custom Hondas that are made to look beat-up and utilitarian in the show's post-apocalyptic world. There's even a mounting point on the back for Daryl's trademark crossbow. The bikes also had to be reliable in the real world for filming. According to Classified Moto, it chose the Hondas as a base because the company had experience building customs on them and parts were easy to get. While Classified Moto now gets its bikes on TV this week, this isn't its first brush with celebrity. The company previously built Battlestar Galactica star Katee Sackhoff a highly modified Honda, as well.

Acura to roll out NSX Prototype for Mid-Ohio IndyCar race

Acura will tease us yet again with its next-gen NSX when it makes an appearance at Mid-Ohio Raceway before the circuit's IndyCar race early next month. To be fair, the car's in-motion debut won't take the form of a production model - that's still a ways off - the vehicle will be a prototype. It'll be sporting custom graphics and an eye-catching paint (wrap?) job to draw the attention of the spectators, but really, we just want to hear this thing rounding the legendary road course at full chat.
The NSX prototype doesn't look to be much different from the various showcars we've seen over the last couple of years, with the same mid-engined, hybrid V6 power and all-wheel drive all present and accounted for.
The display will take place before the Honda Indy 200 IndyCar Series on August 4. The race itself starts at 3:00 pm and will be shown on NBC Sports Network.