1999 Honda Accord Ex Sedan 4-door 3.0l on 2040-cars

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Honda to spool up turbos, workforce with F1 tech

Honda has had a longer and more tumultuous relationship with Formula One than just about any other automaker. It had only been building cars for four years before it entered F1 in 1964 as the first Japanese team in the series, winning its first race the following season but shuttering the program a few years later. Honda came back to power the likes of Williams and McLaren to several World Championships in the '80s and '90s, but things took a downturn when it started a partnership and ultimately took over British American Racing. After pouring untold billions into the effort, the economy tanked, and Honda ultimately sold the team, which subsequently claimed the championship - under new ownership and Mercedes power. Now Honda is gearing up to return in 2015 with a new turbocharged V6 hybrid powertrain it's supplying initially to McLaren, which in turn is switching back to Honda from nearly two decades with Mercedes.
So why return to F1 now? That's precisely what Autoblog asked Honda's Global President and Chief Executive Takanobu Ito (pictured above with McLaren chief Martin Whitmarsh) while visiting his office in Tokyo. While he wouldn't reveal specifics (like when his company's new engine would be available to other teams, as it most certainly will in the long run), Ito-san was clearly happy to discuss the motivation behind the move and the value he feels it brings to the company and its products.
Ito pointed toward the proliferation of motors within Honda's powertrains as a development he hopes to take to road from track

Honda reveals new Civic hatch for WTCC

If you thought the Honda Civic Type R prototype we drove in Japan looked cool, and that the Civic Tourer that Honda will race in the British Touring Car Championship next year looks even cooler, just take a look at this.
Possibly the ultimate race-spec Civic, this is the car Honda will field next year in the World Touring Car Championship. Like the Type R prototype (but unlike the BTCC-spec wagon) the WTCC challenger takes the form of Honda's latest Euro-spec Civic five-door hatchback.
It's the car with which Honda intends to defend its title and capture the driver's title in next year's championship. It'll face a tough challenge from the new Citroën team headlined by Sebastien Loeb in the new C-Elysee, not to mention the rest of the grid. Fortunately, Honda is entering a whole mess of these Civics in the series, with former champion Gabriele Tarquini and former F1 driver Tiago Monteiro driving the works entries (hence the mixed "Gabriago" tag on the window) and another pair to be entered by privateer teams.

Half of Chinese car buyers won't shop Japanese over hard feelings

The hard feelings between China and Japan is no real secret. Besides modern-day disputes, the two countries have had a long-running enmity that dates back to well before the atrocities of World War II. All things considered, then, it shouldn't be a shock that half of Chinese car buyers wouldn't consider a Japanese car. This survey, conducted by Bernstein Research, found that 51 percent of 40,000 Chinese consumers wouldn't even consider a Japanese car – which, again, isn't really surprising, when you consider stories like this. According to Bernstein, the most troubling thing is the location of these sentiments – smaller, growing cities where the population is going to need sets of wheels. We imagine it wouldn't be as big of an issue in traffic-clogged Shanghai or Beijing, but these small cities are going to become a major focus for automakers. "Nationalistic feelings are an impediment. [Japanese] premium brands will struggle," analyst Max Warburton wrote in a research note, according to The Wall Street Journal. Things will improve for Japanese makes, although China will remain a challenge, with Warburton writing, "the one thing that comes out most clearly is that most Chinese really want a German car. While we expect Japanese brands to continue to recover market share this year, ultimately the market will belong to the Germans." There are a few other insights from the study. According to WSJ, Japanese brands are viewed better than Korean brands, and they're seen as more comfortable than the offerings from Germany or the US, despite the fact that everyone in China apparently wants a German car. This is a tough position for the Japanese makes to be in, as there's really not a lot they can do to win favor with Chinese buyers. It will be interesting to see how this plays out, particularly as the importance of the PRC continues to increase year after year. News Source: The Wall Street Journal - sub. req.Image Credit: Kazuhiro Nogi / AFP / Getty Images Honda Mazda Nissan Toyota Car Buying