2013 Honda Touring on 2040-cars

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Honda scraps 2017 sales target amid concerns over quality

Honda CEO Takanobu Ito thinks that the automaker he leads needs to go back to basics to avoid continuing quality concerns. To do that, the boss is making the radical shift of entirely chucking the company's six-million vehicle annual sale targets through 2017, and there's no intention to include the goals in the next midterm plan, either, according to Bloomberg. The move comes soon after last month's announcement to set aside about $425 million to pay for recalls and slice forecasts by about 17,000 cars for the fiscal year. The complete shift from the way most automakers do business stems from the significant number of recalls from Honda last year. While the most glaring example is the Takata airbag problems affecting roughly 5.4 million of the company's vehicles in the US, that's hardly the only one. In Japan, the Fit Hybrid needed five repair campaigns in 12 months to fix various issues, and according to Bloomberg, the Vezel (similar to the HR-V in the US) has needed three. Honda also had to pay $70 million to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for failing to submit 1,729 safety reports to the agency. The Japanese automaker has been working on ways to right the ship for months. In the wake of the Fit recalls, top executives took a three-month, 20 percent pay cut and created an independent position to monitor vehicle quality. Previous Honda CEOs have also offered stern words to Ito. The problems haven't had quite such a dire effect in the US, though. Sales in 2014 were up one percent, and January 2015 showed a year-over-year improvement of 11.5 percent

Ford F-150 bumps Camry from top of Cars.com American Made Index

With July 4th just around the corner, what better time could there be for Cars.com to announce that the Ford F-150 is the Most American car of 2013? This may be especially true since it was the Toyota Camry, a car produced by a company based in Japan, that had held the top spot from 2009 to 2012.
Cars.com compiles its Most American list by considering the amount of parts each vehicle uses that come from America, where it's final assembly takes place and how many units per year are sold. "While the assembly point and domestic parts content of the F-150 didn't change from 2012-2013, vehicle sales are responsible for bumping the F-150 to the top spot," according to Patrick Olsen, Editor-in-Chief of Cars.com.
As far as automakers go (as opposed to individual models), Toyota retains the top spot it held in 2012, with General Motors, Chrysler, Ford and Honda (in that order) rounding out the list. The motivation behind this list each year, according to Olsen, is "to help car shoppers understand that 'American-Made' extends beyond just the Detroit three" and because "a study we conducted in 2012 indicated that 25 percent of shoppers surveyed preferred to buy American."

2017 Honda Civic rolls into dealerships Monday starting at $20,535

Honda announced pricing for the British-built Civic hatchback today as well as availability. Starting this Monday, you'll be able to walk into a Honda dealership and pick up a hatch for as low as $20,535. For that price, you can take home a base-level Civic LX with the 1.5-liter, turbocharged engine and a 6-speed manual transmission to channel the 174 horsepower and 167 lb-ft of torque to the pavement. Stepping up to the Sport trim adds a dual-outlet center-mounted exhaust and brings the power total to 180 and torque up to 177. The price also jumps to $22,135. Adding the CVT to either trim adds an extra $800 and, although horsepower ratings remain unchanged, the torque output drops down to 162 on both models. The highest Civic hatchback trims are the EX, EX-L with navigation and Sport Touring, and they are all only available with a CVT. The EX and EX-L trims start at $23,635 and $26,135 respectively, and bring niceties including heated seats and dual-zone climate control. The new Sport Touring trim tops the range and takes everything the EX-L and normal Sport trims have and adds red illuminated instruments, and a 540-watt 12-speaker sound system. Unlike the other trims, the Sport Touring model will not be available until later this year and pricing hasn't been announced yet. Compared with other hatchbacks in the compact car segment, the Civic hatch has a slightly higher starting price. Most of the competition starts at just under $20,000. However, the Civic does effectively top the charts for horsepower. The only car that beats it is the Mazda3 hatchback with the 2.5-liter engine, which produces 184 horsepower. However, you'll have to spend at least $26,280 to get that version of the 3. The next closest model is the VW Golf with 170 horsepower and a starting price of $20,715, and the rest of the competition produces 160 horsepower or less. So if you're looking for some pep on a budget, the Civic looks like a solid choice, and if it drives like the sedan and coupe, it looks even better. Related Video: Featured Gallery 2017 Honda Civic hatchback Image Credit: Honda Honda Hatchback Economy Cars pricing honda civic hatchback compact cars civic hatchback