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Honda S660 Concept portends a new kei car for 2015

Apart from a tiny, one-paragraph mention in a press release about the Honda show stand in general, the company hasn't said very much about its completely charming S660 Concept. The model would seem very much to be a look ahead at a possible successor to the Beat kei car for Japanese customers, though we've been told that we shouldn't expect any kind of translation or product for the American market (despite certain key executives wanting more sports cars in the US).
Honda tells us only that the S660 roadster features "advanced styling" and "new initiatives such as Super cockpit interior." We do think that the confines of the S660 look particularly driver-focused, with a carbon fiber steering wheel clad in soft leather, very racy looking vented seats and instruments tilted to keep the pilot constantly informed.
Honda President and CEO, Takanobu Ito, also touched on the S660 in his remarks at the press conference, saying that the model "embodies the freewheeling thinking of young Honda engineers, who want to make a cool car that is unique to Honda." Takanobu also said that the concept will be developed into a production model for 2015, which is great news for Japanese drivers.

Honda Civic Tourer reminds us why we love wagons

It was the early 1990s when the last Honda Civic Wagon graced our shores, looking more like a squat five-door hatchback with an extra dose of charm. Well, Honda debuted the newest Civic Wagon Tourer at the Frankfurt Motor Show today, but, as we reported last month, it's a European model that will go on sale there early next year. There's still no word of it coming to the US.
The Civic Tourer was designed by Honda's European studio, and its overall look comes across as more muscular, sporty and stylish than both the sedan and two-door coupe, with bulging fenders and revised windows. Adrian Killham, large project leader for the Civic Tourer, has commented on the styling, saying, "Recently launched cars have tended to follow a similar style. The Civic Tourer has a different balance and appeal." We appreciate the sentiment, and the Tourer's shape is a big reason why we like it.
But we also like the 22 cubic feet of cargo space with the rear seats up, which grows to a gargantuan 59 cubic feet with the rear seats folded down. The big Civic will be powered by either a 1.8-liter four-cylinder petrol engine with i-VTEC or a 1.6-liter Earth Dreams i-DTEC diesel engine. Manual and automatic transmissions will be offered.

April 2014: The ramping-up-for-summer edition

Americans appear to be gearing up for further increases in US gas prices, as green-car sales last month had their largest year-over-year gains of 2014. Domestic customers bought almost 56,000 hybrids, plug-ins and diesels in April, marking a 2.6 percent increase from April 2013. Plug-in sales were particularly strong, jumping 41 percent from a year earlier, as sales of the Chevrolet Volt extended-range plug-in and Nissan Leaf and Tesla Model S battery-electric vehicles all showed gains. April's big winner among the automakers was Honda, moving 1,442 units of its newer Accord Hybrid And April's big winner among the automakers was...Honda? Yes, Honda, which has long operated in the advanced-powertrain shadow of fellow Japanese automakers Toyota and Nissan, came up big by moving 1,442 units of its newer Accord Hybrid. And while sales of the Civic Hybrid, CR-Z and Insight all fell, the Accord Hybrid drove Honda to boost its green-car sales by 78 percent from a year earlier to 2,839 units. Per usual, Nissan and Tesla also showed year-over-year gains. Nissan boosted Leaf sales by 7.8 percent to 2,088 units. And while Tesla won't release its first-quarter results until May 7, the California-based automaker would've increased Model S sales by 34 percent to 2,300 just by maintaining its fourth-quarter 2013 sales pace. Volkswagen and low-volume advanced-powertrain vehicle makers like Audi, Porsche and Daimler AG's Smart division also fared well in April. VW increased its diesel and Jetta Hybrid sales by 25 percent to 9,583 units. Audi's diesel sales quadrupled to 2,088 units. Smart sold 203 units of its newer Smart ED battery-electric vehicle. Such gains more than offset sales declines from General Motors, Ford and Toyota, though Toyota's April was less painful than previous months. GM's big mild-hybrid sales declines more than offset the 19 percent increase in Chevy Volt sales to 1,548 units and the sales of 491 Chevrolet Cruze Diesel vehicles. All told, GM's green-car sales declined 25 percent to 3,103 units. Fusion Energi Plug-in Hybrid sales doubled and C-Max Energi PHEV sales jumped 28 percent. Ford's green-car sales were down 12 percent to 7,554 vehicles. While Fusion Energi Plug-in Hybrid sales doubled and C-Max Energi PHEV sales jumped 28 percent, Fusion Hybrid sales were little-changed while C-Max Hybrid sales tumbled 50 percent to 1,586 units.