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Honda integrating Siri into select models

Honda has partnered up with Apple to bring Siri to the Accord, Acura RDX and ILX. Owners who have an iPhone running iOS 6 will be able to ask the software to perform a number of tasks via voice command using the vehicle's on board microphone and speaker systems. What's more, the tech will put the iPhone into an "eyes free" mode, which turns the screen off to help reduce distraction while driving. Honda says it has reworked its Bluetooth and HandsFreeLink systems to accommodate the Siri functionality. While the tech will only be available on three of the company's models right now, we imagine it won't be long before it shows up elsewhere.
As you may recall, Chevrolet integrated Siri into its products with vehicles like the Spark and Sonic, but Mercedes-Benz and Chrysler have also toyed with the tech to varying degrees. The seamless voice command seems to be light years ahead of the tech manufacturers are currently playing with. Check out the full press release from Honda below for more information.

Honda marks 20 million vehicles made in the USA

Japanese automakers manufacturing in the United States is nothing new. But it was in November of 1982 when the first Honda Accord rolled off the assembly line in Marysville, OH. It was the first Japanese vehicle assembled in the US, and in the nearly 32 years since, Honda has made 10 million Accords here for a total of 20 million cars manufactured in America - enough to span from New York to San Francisco twenty times. It's that double landmark which Honda is now celebrating.
Honda has come a long way in those three decades, keeping that original plant in Marysville on line while expanding to three more - in East Liberty, OH; Lincoln, AL; and Greensburg, IN - with a fifth plant (the Performance Manufacturing Center) opening on the same site in Marysville to build the Acura NSX next year. It also builds engines in Lincoln and in Anna, OH, and automatic transmissions at Russells Point, OH, and Tallapoosa, GA.
Between those seven sites, Honda produces 11 different models, including the Accord, Civic, Crosstour, CR-V, Pilot, Odyssey and Ridgeline as well as the Acura ILX, TL, RDX and MDX. Production keeps on ramping up as Honda produced a record 1.3 million vehicles in the US last year, 95 percent of which are sold in the US. Scope out the details in the press release below and click the image above to see it all laid out in a handy infographic.

Acura ZDX getting the axe after 2013 despite new updates [w/poll]

The Acura ZDX hasn't exactly lived a conventional existence, so perhaps we shouldn't be surprised that its death announcement isn't going according to standard industry protocol, either. Parent company Honda has taken the unusual step of trumpeting a refreshed-for-2013 model while simultaneously announcing that this will be the model's last year. According to Acura, the model's cancellation comes as the brand "sharpens its focus on new models and core products" like the forthcoming RLX sedan.
The audaciously styled crossover has been, to be charitable, a very reluctant seller since its 2009 introduction, but for 2013, Acura is jazzing up its concept car for the street with new kit. The changes include a lightly reworked front shield grille along with new power folding side mirrors and new tech features including lane departure and forward collision warning systems.
We'd say that announcing the model's discontinuation at the same time one is presenting a freshened model could hurt sales, but we're not sure there's anyone paying attention. Last year, Acura managed to shift just 1,564 units of the ZDX, giving it the No. 4 spot on our Worst Sellers of 2011 list. Through September, Automotive News reports that only 642 examples have been sold in 2012, making it one of the rarest new cars on the market.