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Ward's Automotive Ten Best Engines of 2014 dominated by diesels, turbos

With the Car and Driver Ten Best decided, the North American Car and Truck of the Year finalists announced and Cadillac, Ram and Subaru chalking up wins with Motor Trend, it's fair to say that the automotive awards season is in full swing. The next set of trophies to be handed out will be from Ward's Automotive, which has announced the winners of its 2014 10 Best Engines.
The latest contest was marked by the widespread emergence of diesel power and the continued success of turbocharged engines. There was even an electric motor on this year's list. In fact, only three of the ten winners were naturally aspirated and only two winners returned from last year.
"We weren't looking to throw the bums out, as they might say about an election. We were just really impressed with the flood of new powertrains," said Ward's Automotive Editor-in-Chief Drew Winter. Those new powertrains include the 83-kilowatt electric motor from the Fiat 500e, the 1.0-liter, EcoBoost three-cylinder from the Ford Fiesta and the 2.0-liter turbodiesel from the Chevrolet Cruze.

Analysts say Honda's growing woes in Europe not just the economy

There is no denying that the European auto market is taking its lumps right now - just ask Peugeot - but Honda might be taking this downturn on the chin a little harder than some of the other Japanese automakers doing business on the continent. Automotive News Europe is reporting that things have gotten so bad for Honda that it will be cutting 800 workers from Swindon, England plant that builds the CR-V, Civic and Jazz (a.k.a. Fit). This will be the first time Honda has made such cuts in more than 20 years.
Despite an increase in output last year over 2011 (165,607 units compared to 97,459), the Swindon plant is still running well below its full capacity (250,000/year), and its 66 percent capacity is less than the expected breakeven point of industry analysts (75 to 80 percent). Unlike in the US, however, Honda's new CR-V and Civic aren't selling well, and the similarly sized Nissan Qashqai is outselling the CR-V at a rate of more than five to one. Slow CR-V sales are blamed on a relatively high price and the crossover's conservative styling. On the complete opposite side of the spectrum, the report notes that Nissan continues to experience growth at its UK operations, leading analysts to suggest that Honda can't blame the sour economy for much of its woes.

Honda 'Hands' ad is a worthy successor to 'Cog'

The 2003 Cog commercial from Honda may have been named one of the best car commercials of all time, but an all-new spot called Hands looks to be even more entertaining even if it's digitally enhanced. The two-minute video - which starts and ends with a nod to Cog - highlights just about all facets of Honda's universe of products from passenger cars to racecars, the HondaJet to leaf blowers, motorcycles, ATVs and even Asimo.
Celebrating 65 years of innovation, the advertisement is as informative as it is amusing, and it even injects a little humor, too, like a glass of water being squeezed from the FCX Clarity. We just hope that the 1:10 mark of the video isn't hinting at a CR-V Convertible. We're not sure when Hands will air or if we'll see it on television here in the US, but the video is posted below; as an added bonus, we've also included the video for Cog.