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Recharge Wrap-up: Honda Legend Sport Hybrid launching in Japan; driving cross-country on chicken fat

Honda will begin sales in Japan of the Legend Sport Hybrid SH-AWD in January. The Legend is Japan's answer to the Acura RLX Sport Hybrid sold in the US. Up front, the new flagship sedan uses a 3.5-liter V6 with cylinder deactivation and a seven-speed, dual-clutch transmission with integrated electric motor. In the rear, a dual electric motor unit supplies power to the wheels. The three electric motors are also used for generating electricity during deceleration. The car has three drive modes, including EV Drive, Hybrid Drive and Engine Drive. The result is a fuel economy rating of 40 mpg, according to the JC08 cycle. Read more at Green Car Congress or in Honda's press release below. While Jay Leno explains how marketing early electric cars toward women caused them to lose out to internal combustion, the same can't be said about the current era of EVs. Leno says that early EVs, like Leno's beloved Baker, appealed to women because they were quiet, clean, and didn't require cranking to start them. This led to accessorization marketed toward women, causing men - who had more buying power than women at the time - to shy away from EVs. This time around, though, EVs target a broader audience in a different culture from the early 20th century. See Leno explain the early EV culture while driving his Baker Electric in the video below and read more at Hybrid Cars. GKN's two-speed eAxle allows EVs to make the most of both acceleration and top speed. Single-speed transmissions must sacrifice top speed for acceleration, or vice versa. In addition to improving performance at all speeds and increasing range, the GKN's eAxle also performs well in terms of NVH, providing seamless shifts and low gear noise. In order to package the eAxle in the BMW i8, the unit is just 12.8 inches by 22.1 inches by 12.3 inches and weighs 60 pounds. Read more at Green Car Congress. An alternative fuels researcher at Middle Tennessee State University will drive a truck powered by chicken fat biodiesel across the country. Professor Cliff Ricketts is driving a converted 1981 Volkswagen Rabbit pickup from Key West, FL to Seattle, WA to demonstrate the viability of chicken fat as a fuel. Ricketts admits, though, that the truck's exhaust stack is loud and smells like French fries. Read more at Domestic Fuel. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

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.

Even Ferrari swept up in latest Takata recall expansion

The scope of Takata's deadly airbag problems continues to widen. Eight manufacturers announced recalls Friday that affect more than 12 million vehicles, according to documents filed with federal regulators. The automakers include Honda, which is recalling 4.5 million units, Fiat Chrysler with 4.3 million, Toyota with 1.65 million, and Subaru, which is recalling almost 400,000. Some of these cars include the Saab 9-2x and Pontiac Vibe that Toyota and Subaru made for General Motors. Mazda will recall 730,000 vehicles and Nissan has 400,000 affected units. The smallest numbers were posted by Mitsubishi, with 38,000 Lancers manufactured from 2006 to 2007, and as a noteworthy high-end manufacturer, Ferrari is calling back 2,800 vehicles. These are all US-market cars. Beyond America, the Japanese Transport Ministry has announced seven million additional vehicles will be recalled, which means 19.6 million vehicles across the globe are affected by recalls announced. The defects have been traced to an insufficiently manufactured airbag inflator, which lacks a drying agent that would prevent the inflators from deteriorating over time. Thirteen deaths have been linked to the faulty airbags, which have become unstable and are prone to exploding and showering vehicle occupants with lethal amounts of metal shrapnel. A private equity firm, KKR & Co., has been named in a possible buyout of the struggling Takata. Related Video: News Source: ReutersImage Credit: Shutterstock Government/Legal Recalls Ferrari Honda Mazda Automakers Mitsubishi Nissan Pontiac Subaru Toyota Saab Safety