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Honda, Hyundai and Kia get best word-of-mouth recommendations in US

Forget advertising, incentives and, yes, even our excellently crafted vehicle reviews, sometimes the best way for automakers to sell cars is still good ol' fashioned word of mouth. In an attempt to measure this "word of mouth" power, The Boston Consulting Group, a management consulting firm, has created a new study called the Brand Advocacy Index (BAI). The index takes a look at how various industries perform from person to person. Those industries include automotive, smartphones, grocery, mobile telecommunications and banking.
The study polled more than 32,000 individuals across Europe and in the US to come up with the top 55 brands in these various industries. On the automotive side of things, the top brands in the US were Honda, Hyundai and Kia, all tied at 63 percent. On a global scale, Volkswagen and Toyota scored the highest with a 65-percent BAI rating (both in France). The average BAI for auto industry players tallied 50 percent.
As for companies in other industries, Apple's iPhone was the index's top-rated smartphone, Trader Joe's was the highest recommended grocery store, Virgin was sat atop the mobile telecom industry and USAA was the top retail bank. Scroll down for the full press release on the new study.

Honda Civic Type R Concept is the shape of hot things to come

Soon, kids. Soon. The next-generation Honda Civic Type R is finally coming, and we're getting another preview of the hot hatch here at the Paris Motor Show. Of course, this one probably won't be headed to the United States (boo!), but it doesn't mean we can't get excited. After all, we're big fans of little turbo hatches, and from what we know right now, this one sure sounds sweet.
Underneath that new blue paint and red decals is a 2.0-liter turbocharged inline-four, reportedly good for 276 horsepower. Honda tells us there's a "steer axis" system with adaptive dampers, and with the push of its +R button, the suspension, steering and torque mapping are all altered to make this Type R even more Type R-ier than before. In fact, Honda says this Civic will surpass every Type R that came before it - that means every Integra, Accord, Civic and even the NSX. Hot diggity.
We've got a fresh batch of images of the Type R Concept up top, and Honda's press release is available below. Hopefully it won't be long before the production car is finally revealed.

2014 Honda Civic Hybrid now available nationwide, CNG model in 37 states [UPDATE]

As promised, the 2014 Honda Civic is about to get a little green update. A hybrid gas-electric version will join the standard 2014 Civic in Honda showrooms nationwide tomorrow and a natural gas-powered model will join the party on February 15th, but only in 37 states. Both new models will get the updates that Honda applied to the other 2014 Civic models, including a seven-inch touchscreen display audio and expanded view driver's mirror, which are both now standard. Read our review of the 2013 Civic Hybrid here but note that enough has changed with the new model to go from an EPA rating of 44 miles per gallon across the board to 44/47/45 city/highway/combined. The CNG model is rated at 31 mpg in all three categories. The 2014 Civic Hybrid will start at $24,635, while the compressed natural gas (CNG) Civic aims a bit higher, starting at $26,640. More details on these new vehicles is available below. If you're happy with earlier versions of the CNG Civic, then you'll be happy to know that 2012 MY vehicles at participating Honda dealers still comes with a $3,000 fuel credit that can be used at Clean Energy stations, the largest brand of public compressed natural gas (CNG) stations in the US. If you don't have a Clean Energy station in your area, the Civic CNG comes with a $2,000 prepaid debit card to be used at other refueling stations. We've asked Honda for information on which 13 states will not offer the CNG model and will update this post when we get that information. UPDATE: The 37 states are now available below. These are the 37 states where the Civic CNG is available: Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, New England, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin. That leaves the following 13 states without the Civic CNG: Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia, Wyoming. Honda Launches 2014 Civic Hybrid and Civic Natural Gas, Enhancing a Diverse Lineup of Fuel Efficient and Alternative Fuel Models Text Only 2014_Honda_Civic_Hybrid-CNG_Rls_FINAL.docx Add to Basket Printer Friendly 02/04/2014 - TORRANCE, Calif.