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2016 Honda Civic revealed in patent drawings

Thanks to the sleuths at CivicX.com, we've now got our first glimpse at the production 2016 Honda Civic. The forum found these patent drawings from Honda, showing the next-generation Civic in both coupe and sedan body styles, and we're happy to report that the car seen here is very, very close to the concept we saw in New York earlier this month. Shortly after Honda debuted the Civic Coupe concept at the New York Auto Show, we spoke to the car's lead designer, Guy Melville-Brown, about how this bold two-door would transform into a production model. He told us the Civic should be "a halo product for Honda," and that the concept showed "elements of what we can expect from the production car." The showcar is "what a true Honda Civic should be," Melville-Brown said. Now that we see these patent drawings, a lot of that makes sense. Sure, it's all been toned down for production spec (as expected), but a lot of the bolder design cues are still present. We like the angular shape of the headlamps and front fascia, and we're glad the wraparound taillamps were left alone (on the coupe, anyway – the sedan uses a slightly different design). See all of the patent drawings in the slideshow above, and scroll down for photos and video of the showcar from New York. CivicX.com has more information, including side-by-side comparisons between the patent pictures and the bright green concept. Related Video:

2015 Honda Fit earns 5 Stars from NHTSA

Honda's emergency redesign of the new Fit's front end not only had a positive effect on its scores from Insurance Institute for Highway Safety – it recorded a Top Safety Pick after being retested – but it helped the compact hatch record an impressive NCAP five-star safety rating from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Those are two significant achievements for the Fit, and surprise, surprise, the Honda was quick to tout the news. "The Fit shows that owning a smaller car doesn't mean you need to skimp on space, comfort or crashworthiness," said Honda's VP of auto operations Art St. Cyr. "Honda's commitment to the safety of our customers and other road users is second to none, and the Fit demonstrates this commitment in a powerful way." Check out the official PR on the NHTSA announcement, available below. All-New 2015 Honda Fit Achieves Highest Overall Vehicle Score from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Feb 2, 2015 - TORRANCE, Calif. Subcompact Fit achieves both an NCAP 5-Star Overall Vehicle Score and an IIHS TOP SAFETY PICK rating Fit is the fifth Honda vehicle for 2015 to achieve top crash safety ratings from both from IIHS and NHTSA The spacious, fuel-efficient and versatile 2015 Honda Fit (http://automobiles.honda.com/fit/), has received a 5-Star Overall Vehicle Score, the top score available in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) New Car Assessment Program (NCAP). The Fit, completely redesigned in 2014, earns both a TOP SAFETY PICK rating from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) and a NCAP 5-Star Overall Vehicle Score from NHTSA for 2015, making it even more of a standout choice in its segment. "The Fit shows that owning a smaller car doesn't mean you need to skimp on space, comfort or crashworthiness," said Art St. Cyr, vice president of auto operations at American Honda Motor Co., Inc. "Honda's commitment to the safety of our customers and other road users is second to none, and the Fit demonstrates this commitment in a powerful way." Already the benchmark subcompact in terms of passenger and cargo space and innovative features, occupant safety features for the 2015 Honda Fit are further enhanced through the next-generation Advanced Compatibility Engineering™ (ACE™) body structure. The ACE™ body structure improves frontal crash energy management through a wider range of offset and oblique collision modes.

Honda's Acura NSX masterstroke: building the factory in Ohio

When Honda announced it was going to build its NSX supercar in Ohio instead of Japan, it caught everybody in the industry by surprise. No one expected this proud Japanese company to build its most technologically advanced sports car anywhere but in its home country. Now Honda has a supercar production facility in rural Ohio that would be the envy of any Formula One team. The people at Honda call it the PMC, but its official name is the Performance Manufacturing Center. It's a building that started out as a shipping facility for suppliers, but Honda invested $70 million to transform it into a showcase facility that will build the NSX. Honda benchmarked the assembly operations at Ferrari, Lamborghini, McLaren, and Bentley before work began on its facility. The 200,000 square-foot building will also double as a customer reception center – Honda will open the doors for customers to come see their car being built. It's also going to offer them high-speed test drives at the gigantic Transportation Research Center just down the road. No one expected this proud Japanese company to build its most technologically advanced sports car anywhere but in its home country. Inside, the layout is wide open and well lit. There are no stripes or lines on the floor and none of the different departments are walled off. This creates a more welcoming appearance and lets you get a comprehensive view of the entire process at a glance. And with an eye towards future lessons learned, most of the equipment is of a modular design that can be easily reconfigured or moved. The body shop and paint shop are enclosed by glass walls so that anyone can see what's going on inside. And while you'll see some automation here and there, the idea was to achieve a blend between man and machine, not to try and automate everything. This is a low-volume facility with production targeted at only eight to ten cars a day. The plant runs four days a week with one ten-hour shift. Don't expect to see rows of new NSXs parked on any dealer's lot. The car will only be built to order. Honda is obsessed with ensuring the NSX is built to the most exacting quality standards. The plant people pored over the JD Power Appeal study to determine what supercar customers care about the most, then looked at which aspects of that directly tie into manufacturing. They developed their quality control strategy with three goals in mind. First, they wanted to build everything right the first time with no adjustments.