1997 Honda Civic on 2040-cars

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New Honda ad has Senna, Type R, Asimo, and astronauts

Now that Honda is back into the guts-and-performance game, automotively speaking, the Japanese company has hit the throttle on hardcore imagery. Its latest is in an ad for the company itself highlighting a small selection of its ample range of products, from motorcycles to an airplane and the coming Acura NSX, branded Honda in other markets. Called "Ignition," Wieden+Kennedy created the 90-second spot for Honda Motor Europe, with the tagline "Dare to do what others only dream of." The theme is a space launch, to give that "feeling of daring and human endeavor," perfectly supported by the print artwork with Asimo the robot up front and fabulously complicated hybrid V6 power units spewing flames from the Formula 1 cars in back. Then there's the family in the HR-V in the middle, defying gravity and sipping from juice boxes, because space is for everyone. Ayrton Senna makes a cameo again, and a Stanley Kubrick aesthetic hangs all over the production. You can check out the ad in the video above.

Junkyard Gem: 2000 Honda Passport 4WD

The suits at American Honda Motor Company must have spent the bulk of the 1990s tearing out their hair in frustration as their rivals raked in big money from the sales of ever-more-profitable SUVs, even as American car shoppers lost interest in sedans and hatchbacks. Oh, sure, the Civic-based CR-V appeared here for the 1997 model year and sold well enough, but the lack of a larger SUV pained Honda more with each passing year. With the Acura MDX and Honda Pilot not ready for showrooms until the 2001 and 2002 model years, respectively, some stopgap had to be found. Isuzu stepped up and made a deal with Honda: the Rodeo would get Honda badges and become the Passport, while the Trooper would show up in Acura showrooms with SLX badges (for the 1994 and 1995 model years, respectively). Here's one of those Passports, found in a Denver-area self-service yard. Things got even weirder in the Isuzu/Honda world around the turn of the century, with the Honda Odyssey getting Isuzu badges and being sold as the Oasis. Fast-forward to 2009, and the only Isuzu-badged vehicles available new here were rebadged Chevrolets: the I-Series pickup (Chevy Colorado) and the Ascender (Chevy Trailblazer). The Passport name has some interesting American Honda history, stretching back to the first Honda vehicle sold here (and the biggest-selling motor vehicle in human history): the Super Cub. American Honda Motor Company couldn't use the Super Cub name on our shores, because Piper Aircraft had been selling a small plane called the Super Cub since 1949, so the motorcycle was called the Honda 50 over here. Eventually, this bike got a 70cc engine and became the Honda C70 Passport, sales of which continued through the middle 1980s. That means the Passports sitting in your local Honda dealership right now got their name from a one-cylinder motorcycle. General Motors has a Passport connection as well; when GM created the Geo brand to sell rebadged Isuzus, Suzukis, and Toyotas in the United States, it created a marque called Passport to sell the Daewoo LeMans as the Optima in Canada (all the other vehicles sold by Passport dealers were Isuzus). So, Honda's need to offer SUVs in its American dealerships led to an arrangement with GM-connected Isuzu to sell these trucks with a model name bearing links to both companies. So much history in the junkyard! Just as Geo-badged Toyota Corollas (mostly) got Delco radios, so did the Passport get Honda radios.

Honda previews next-gen JDM Odyssey minivan

Some automakers market the same cars around the world, while others offer different models - even under the same nameplate - for different markets. We're thinking of cars like the Volkswagen Passat or the previous Mazda6. Honda's been known to do so as well, with models like the Accord and Odyssey, which are completely different in North America than they are in other parts of the world.
Now Honda has provided the first glimpse at the Odyssey minivan it offers for the Japanese Domestic Market (as well as Europe and other parts of the world). Though more compact than the US-market version, the new overseas Odyssey appears larger than the model it replaces, with a taller roofline increasing interior space.
Though Honda hasn't released the model's full specifications, power is expected to come from a 2.4-liter inline-four mated to a continuously variable transmission. Beyond that, buyers will likely be able to choose between front- and all-wheel drive, two cabin layouts, two interior colors and seven or more exterior paints. The images also point towards blind-spot and auto-braking systems and an apparent eco mode. Although unconfirmed, we expect to see the new JDM Odyssey make its debut at the upcoming Tokyo Motor Show.