Honda

The 2013 Honda Civic Hybrid sounds reasonably compelling. But despite the promise of improved fuel consumption with a price of just shy of 1.1 million baht, the Civic Hybrid may not be as economically viable as we would be lead to believe.

This week I took the Civic Hybrid for a drive and would like to share my thoughts with perspective buyers.

Are you waiting for the new 2012 Honda Civic to make it's way to Thailand? The outgoing Civic is a nice car, and you'd be forgiven for expecting the 2012 model to be a substantial step forward. But, according to Consumer Reports, the new Civic could well be a disappointment.

* Nissan March\n* Honda Brio\n* Proton Savvy\n* Kia Picanto/Picanto K1\n* Ecocars are of no interest to me\n* Waiting for something else\n

Following up on the previous coverage of the 2012 Honda CR-V story, there is now an image of the all-new 2012 Honda CR-V in the open, albeit with a fairly heavily disguised front end.

Is this the face of the 2012 Honda CR-V? We can only hope it's not, but, the current model isn't exactly a beauty either. Still, the 2007 Honda CR-V is set to be replaced by an all new 2012 model in time for the new year.

This is the 2012 Honda Civic! Well, the North American version at any rate. With the current Civic still looking so fresh next to the newer, but blander Toyota Corolla, it's a little surprising to see the new Civic already. But, despite this being a completely new car, inside and out, a quick glance might miss some of the detail. There are many changes though.

Remember the Thai version will be a little different, but this at least gives us some idea of what we can expect when the 2012 Civic arrives in Thailand.

Thailand is an amazing country, full of verity and choice. Fruit, for many western countries, means that you will be looking at apples, oranges, bananas, and seasonal berries most of which are imported anyway. In contrast, Thailand offers a staggering array of locally grown fruits.

The country is blessed with natural beauty that attracts millions of tourists annually. And by and large Thailand is a very interesting place to visit, complete with a rich and proud history and culture. But.... this is a car site. And writing about Cars in Thailand isn't always all that interesting. In fact, truth be told, the Thai auto market is bland as can be.

Why is this the case? Do Thai's not have good Taste in cars?

Honda Automobile (Thailand) Co., Ltd., Thailand’s second largest manufacturer and exporter of passenger cars, today exhibited its Honda New Small Concept, a compact-sized concept model and the U3-X, a new personal mobility device at the 31st Bangkok International Motor Show. Both mobility products, exhibited for the first time in Thailand, are expected to be the main attractions at Honda’s booth this year.

Honda has just unveiled a new small car concept at the 2010 Auto Expo in New Delhi. You'll never guess what they've called it, so I'll tell you: "New Small."

I really hope nobody got paid to come up with that name. But, while the name might indeed be about as imaginative as the title of this article, the car itself is much less dull. In fact, I'd say it bodes well for the chances of the Eco Car's success in Thailand when it is launched next year (2011 people).

Earlier I gave a brief look at some of the "highlights" from Toyota's floorspace at the 2009 Bangkok International Motor Show. Right across the aisle from Toyota is Honda who seemed more interested in some "Honda Pretty" competition thing, than they did their cars. Anyway that's the way of things at the Bangkok Motor Show, and to be fair Honda needed something to take the attention off the lack of new metal.

In this article we take a look at the Chevrolet Volt and try to work out if it is really worth waiting for. Will it actually give the Prius a run for its money? Is it the way forward?

What is the Volt?

The Chevrolet Volt is GM's answer to the assault of the Toyota Prius. The Prius is the top selling hybrid car in the world. When the Volt project was announced, oil prices were climbing steadily higher, pushing more and more buyers away from the SUVs that GM had been enjoying so much success with in the preceding years.

GM finally woke up to the threat posed by a combination of high oil prices and the apparent surge in popularity of affordable hybrid cars. The company reacted in true American fashion, by setting their engineers a seemingly impossibly difficult task to complete in an impossibly small time frame. The Volt was that task.

Recently the "Global Economic Melt Down", "financial crisis", or whatever you want to call it, has been taking its toll on the motor industry. While some automakers are attempting to seek government support to stay alive, all automakers are scrambling to find ways to cut costs and save money.

Unfortunately for fans of motor sport, this means less money is being directed towards motor racing. Honda's decision to withdraw from F1 set the scene. Up until then, much of the focus was on GM, Ford, and Chrysler. Honda's reason was simple: money.

Sales at this years Thai Motor Expo were actually pretty reasonable considering the current political and economic difficulties that Thailand is facing. Approximately 14,000 cars were ordered at the Expo which was attended by around 1.5 million visitors.

There are no surprises at the top of the sales table, with Toyota and Honda leading the pack with 4,193 and 2,552 bookings respectively. Business as usual really! Third place went to Isuzu with 1,760, which might seem like a big gap until you remember that they only sell trucks and truck derived SUVs.

Honda believes that there is strong demand for Thai cars on the export market, despite the recent global slump in sales that has left the US Auto industry looking very fragile.

Honda Automobiles (Thailand) Co. Ltd., has seen export orders drop of 10 percent, due mostly to a decrease in demand from Japan and Australia. But, Honda still thinks that there are plenty of buyers out there for both completely built-up (CBU) cars, as well as for kits for assembly in the world market.

Coming so soon after the launch of the much hyped Honda City, the 2009 Honda Civic facelift slipped in a week ago and there has been very little said.

Of course that could have something to do with the fact that you would be hard pushed to notice the difference between the updated 2009 Civic, and the model it has replaced.

Read on to find out what has changed.