Also making its Motor Show debut is Honda's next generation clean diesel engine - the i-DTEC.
Honda's development programme for the i-DTEC engine - which uses world-first technology to reduce emissions to a level equal to that of a petrol engine - continues to motor ahead.
Honda will be presenting the world debut of an exciting Accord Tourer Concept at the forthcoming 2007 Frankfurt motor show. A press conference will be held on the Honda stand in Hall 5 on the first Press Day, 11th September, between 13.15 and 13.45.
The Accord Tourer Concept will give a strong indication of the design direction of the all-new generation Accord Tourer set to debut in mid-2008 and its wider, lower look signals a more sporty, more emotional styling approach. This will be matched by a range of advanced, low emissions engines and innovative new chassis technology that will deliver exceptional handling without compromising ride comfort.
A high-spec, Sat Nav-equipped version of the Civic Hybrid has been launched by Honda (UK) to meet customer demand.
The Civic Hybrid EX is now available to order from authorised Honda dealers, with the first customers due to receive cars in November. The EX also features leather upholstery and Honda's Hands Free Telephone (HFT) equipment, which uses Bluetooth technology to allow mobile phone calls to be made safely on the move.
Honda has practically swept the board in this year's Which? Car reliability survey, the biggest-ever owner satisfaction survey in the UK with almost 100,000 cars rated. The Honda Jazz is the most reliable new car, with a rating of 96 per cent. More than 1,300 owners confirmed it rarely lets them down – cementing its reputation as the number one for dependable motoring.
Britain's SUV buyers are making greener choices in the showroom, according to latest industry sales figures. Cars like Honda's CR-V are selling better than ever, as they offer a cleaner, smaller alternative to the traditional 4x4 stereotype.
Despite negative public feeling towards 4x4s – that influenced a drop of 4% in the sector – sales of the low emissions CR-V increased by 28 per cent over the first six months of the year (11,665 cars to the end of June 2007 versus 9,086 for the same period last year) – and the Honda continues to top the charts as the UK's favourite SUV.
FASHIONABLE homeware supplier Ikea is taking on 50 Civic petrol/electric hybrids and plans to replace all its company cars with the model. Further deliveries of the four-door hybrid Civic will be made next year. The cars are understood to be replacing Skodas and the total switch to these models is being claimed as a UK corporate first. Honda's environment manager John Kingston said the Civic hybrid was:
… really taking off in the corporate sector where firms want to be seen to be green
Two new versions of the Accord will be launched in September to help Honda battle for honours in the competitive D-sector saloon market. Follow this link for details:
For the second year running Honda has achieved second place overall in the J D Power Survey, scoring highly across all four categories - vehicle quality and reliability, vehicle appeal, service satisfaction and ownership costs.
The latest results mean Honda has appeared in the top five spot for the past five surveys. The Jazz yet again finished first in its class, making it four years in a row and an unbroken record since Jazz was first included in the 2004 results. The Jazz also finished third in the overall model ranking table, making it Honda's highest achieving model to appear.
HONDA IS promising a further hybrid model into the UK within the next two years. At the same time it will also bring a small number of the FCX fuel cell car around the same time.
We will have a more financially accessible hybrid available by 2009. We have no idea of the size of the hybrid market right now, we just know that right now we can't meet demand,
commented UK managing director, Ken Kier.
Following customer feedback on our customer car parking, we held a meeting to review ways of improving our parking. One result of this meeting was the introduction of a valet parking attendant at peak times. This was launched on Thursday 3 May and is proving very popular with our customers, as well as improving the general parking.
Weybridge has a more serious problem, given the town centre location and the limited space available, and we are therefore recruiting a full-time parking attendant. We hope to have this new member of staff available in the coming weeks and feel sure that this will greatly improve the customer experience on arrival.