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Honda boss says Chinese drivers don't want green cars

According to The Wall Street Journal, Honda CEO Takanobu Ito believes that China's nascent car-buying demographic isn't all that interested in hybrid cars - at least not yet. The emissions story doesn't resonate with them, and certainly not for the higher purchase premium such models usually carry. What they really want, Ito believes, is reliable, affordable cars that fit their needs. When it comes to Honda sales, the numbers would appear to jibe with his thoughts: Honda sold 598,577 vehicles in China last year through its two joint ventures, yet just 542 of them were hybrids - not even a tenth of a percent. However, Toyota sold 840,500 cars in China last year, and two percent of that total, 17,300 units, were hybrids, which is closer to the still-piddling three-percent ratio of sales that Toyota posted in the US last year.
Honda offers the Insight, Fit Hybrid and CR-Z in China and plans to make components for its Integrated Motor Assist hybrid system there from next year, the hope being it will reduce the cost of hybrid cars for local buyers. That was one part of the plan Honda laid out last year to popularize its IMA system in China. Other initiatives include the introduction of a new hybrid system for mid-sized and large vehicles and a plug-in hybrid. Among the four new vehicles Honda showed during this weekend's press day for the Shanghai Motor Show (including the Concept M minivan pictured above) there was not a single hybrid among them.

Honda Civic Type R Concept hits the ground running ahead of Geneva debut

We've seen it teased, caught it testing, hell, we've even driven the thing, but until just now, we hadn't been privy to the visual drama that is the all-new Honda Civic Type R Concept. Thankfully, the day before the start of the Geneva Motor Show is about as leaky as Robert Redford's sailboat.
We'll get the full details tomorrow - which may even include a discourse on Honda's 2.0-liter turbocharged engine that will make upwards of 280 horsepower and propel the car to Nürburgring-record-braking velocities. After all, the "Concept" portion of most Honda concept cars is generally lip-service only.
In fact, save for those blacked out windows and, perhaps, a couple millimeters of ride height and those extra-aggro wheels, we pretty much expect the production Type R to look like the beast you see here. Certainly the swooping form and 'roided wheel arches suit the boy-racer persona of the Civic very well; we wouldn't even put it past Honda's funky European arm to sell the final product with some version of that bi-plane wing.

Honda asking used-car buyers to sign liability document [w/poll]

New cars under recall must be repaired before a dealer can sell them but used cars are under no such mandate.
When it comes to informing the car-buying public about potential safety hazards on used vehicles, there are two emerging schools of thought among used-car dealers.