Why Honda Delays Hybrid Production in China?

Japan's Honda Motor Co. will delay the start of production of gasoline-electric hybrid cars in China in a bid to source cheaper parts, a company official said, in an apparent response to rival Toyota's cost-saving measures.

Honda had intended to start local production of hybrid cars in China by as early as next year, but said on Friday local production had been put back "to within three years" in order to source cheaper components from parts suppliers in China.

"Affordability is critical," said Natsuno Asanuma, the Honda spokeswoman in Beijing.

Honda provided no further details about the type of components it wanted to source more cheaply, or on possible joint ventures with Chinese companies.

China has been the world's biggest auto market since 2009, but hybrid sales have been comparatively slow. That could soon change, however, as Beijing is looking at boosting subsidies to increase sales of "new-energy" cars.

Honda's delay comes after Toyota Motor Corp <7203.T> said last month it was trying to source key hybrid components in China to make hybrids more affordable. Toyota said it was planning a joint venture in China with a local supplier to produce batteries for gas-electric hybrid cars.

The move comes as Toyota – and other automakers in China, both indigenous Chinese and foreign – gear up to try to kick-start sales of "conventional" hybrid cars in China in anticipation of policy changes aimed at boosting sales of hybrid vehicles.

Under the current policy, China provides generous subsidies for private purchases of all-electric battery vehicles and heavily electrified "near all-electric" plug-in hybrids, but only limited support for the conventional gas-electric hybrids.

A growing number of industry insiders and experts believe Beijing will boost purchase subsidies significantly for conventional hybrids as early as this year.

On Friday, Honda also said it planned to introduce 12 new or significantly redesigned models before the end of 2015 in China. Previously, Honda had said it planned to launch more than 10 such new and significantly redesigned models in China.
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New Honda Civic Won Awards

Honda's new 1.6 i-DTEC diesel engine has won another award. Rated at 120 hp and more importantly 300 Nm of torque, this family hatch is aimed both at the eco crowd with emissions below 100 grams per km, and also at those who want to save on fuel costs.

But that's not all it can do. The Civic diesel also makes a good towing car, as the Swindon-built hatch received the Green Award at the 2013 Tow Car Awards.

The Civic was tested with a Swift caravan weighted to 85 per cent of its kerbweight - the maximum weight recommended for secure and stable towing. The Cvic managed to pull itself and the boxy cargo behind it from 30 to 60 mph in 18.7 seconds and performed well in a hill start scenario.

"Some cars get nowhere near their official fuel economy figures in normal driving, but in independent testing by the What Car? True MPG team the Civic 1.6 i-DTEC achieved 66.4mpg. That makes it the most fuel-efficient car in this year's tests," said David Motton, tow car editor, Practical Caravan, commented.

Phil Crossman, Managing Director at Honda (UK) added: "This award once again confirms the new Civic's status as a fantastic package of power, performance and efficiency. It might be one of the smallest cars which took part in the judging but it's proved to be more than capable at towing while maintaining excellent fuel economy."
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Honda Cooperate With Proton Holdings

Proton Holdings Bhd has finalised the details of its collaboration with Japanese automotive giant Honda Motor Co.

"We are unable to disclose any detail for now. This is Honda's first collaborative agreement with another original equipment manufacturer and it would like to keep thing under wraps as details are trade secrets," Proton executive chairman Tan Sri Mohd Khamil Jamil told reporters on the sidelines of the Preve launch in Jakarta yesterday.

He said the market should expect the first variant of the agreement in a couple of months.

This confirms a StarBiz report recently on the joint venture between Proton and Honda in which the former would be using the Honda Accord chassis for the new product, touted to be the Perdana replacement model.

He dismissed speculation that Proton would be shifting its Shah Alam operations to the plant in Tanjung Malim.

"It is not practical, not economical and neither does it make much business sense to do that immediately," he said. The Shah Alam plant produces about 160,000 cars annually.

Deputy CEO Datuk Lukman Ibrahim said the Tanjung Malim plant would be on full utilisation by the second half of next year.

The plant is capable of producing 150,000 cars a year, and is just running on 60% of its full capacity.

The unused capacity had attracted many OEMs to collaborate with Proton to penetrate the Asean market. However, Lukman skirted the question on whether the improved utilisation would be a result of the Honda collaboration.

He also mentioned that the Preve hatchback was planned for launch after the Hari Raya celebrations, confirming the same StarBiz report.

Meanwhile, Proton is still pushing ahead with its vendor rationalisation programme, in a bid to reduce its cost by 30% in five years.

"We have reduced our vendors from 240 to 213, and those who don't meet our criteria will be withdrawn from our vendor list," he said.

He also said Proton was on track with its attention on the export markets, which in its five-year business plan would be Asean, China, the Middle East and North Africa.

He is also eyeing the UK market to export the Preve and Exora.

"Proton will continue efforts to develop the Global Small Car, codenamed the P230A.

"We will also continue research and developmentwork on the energy efficient vehicle concept, with the first prototype scheduled to be unveiled next year," he added.

Khamil also said DRB-Hicom had cleaned up the books of Lotus and was on a clean slate to move on from its financially troubled state of affairs.

"We are coming up with variants of the Evora, Exige and Elise based on improved technological innovation and upgraded performance," he said.

He said the new Lotus model was expected to be unveiled in three years following the scrapping of the five year-five car plan conceived by the previous management.

"Up to May, we achieved encouraging sales of 80 Lotus cars, which is more than the 70 units for the whole of last year," he said.
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Latest Honda Civic 2013 [Hybrid]

           The 2013 Honda Civic hybrid might not be quick, but its lightning-strike development sure was. After a fully redesigned Civic lineup debuted for 2012 to disappointment, Honda forced a speedy update down the pike. The fruit of its hurried labor has now ripened, and impressively, the shotgun fix remedied many of the shortcomings, at least on the conventional Civic sedan. Now we’ve run the revised hybrid model through our testing to see how it was affected by the rapid relaunch. 

Smile, It’s a Hybrid!

As does the entire 2013 Civic lineup, the hybrid inherits a rash of structural, chassis, and styling tweaks designed to turn the 2012 car’s frown upside down and address its unsavory refinement levels, lackluster aesthetics, and floppy handling. And speaking of changing facial expressions, like other Civics, the hybrid inherits a pair of upturned chrome accents for the grille and lower intake, which impart a less-droopy, sad-looking countenance.

Behind the revised look are slightly beefier springs, thicker anti-roll bars, and a stiffer front-end structure—all of which deliver subjectively better handling and body control over last year’s car. Thanks to a quicker ratio and reduced friction in the rack, the electric power steering is more accurate, too. The hybrid version, however, rides on fuel-economy-optimized Bridgestone Ecopia tires, their hard, narrow construction limiting lateral grip to 0.77 g on the skidpad. The low-rolling-resistance Ecopias also contributed to an abysmal 196-foot stop from 70 mph to 0. So even though the 2013 car feels more tied down and responsive, lateral grip and stopping performance are unchanged from the 2012’s. 

Keep Calm and Slow Your Expectations

As mentioned, the Civic hybrid’s primary mission is to conserve fossil fuel. So we shouldn’t have been surprised when a geriatric piloting a Buick Lucerne—apparently unaware of our impromptu race—poignantly demonstrated this truth by smoking us from a stoplight. At the track, the hybrid took 9.9 seconds to reach 60 mph and topped out at 111 mph. Even though the 2013 model still pumps 127 combined horsepower from its 1.5-liter gas engine and 23-hp electric motor, acceleration figures are 0.2 second quicker and 1 mph lower than those of a 2012 hybrid we tested last year. Performance still trails off considerably when the battery pack is depleted. Despite our lead-footed driving style, we did manage 38 mpg—about 15 percent shy of the 44-mpg EPA combined figure and, truthfully, this hybrid’s most-important performance metric. 

Since you’ll have plenty of time to soak in the Civic’s inner sanctum while trying to keep up with other slow-laners, it’s a good thing it’s been improved. The dash layout is a tad more conventional, and there are now better materials as well as a padded vinyl dashboard and upper-door trim. Added soundproofing, plus thicker windshield and front-side window glass—they took the edge off wind and tire noise—added only two pounds to our test car relative to an identically equipped 2012 model.

Despite the multiple updates and improvements, the hybrid’s price inflates by a few hundred bucks, and bidding opens at $25,150. Our leather- and navigation-equipped test example rang in at a steep $27,850, but similarly optioned competitors such as the Volkswagen Jetta hybrid and Toyota Prius carry similar price tags.

Comparing Kereta Honda Civic 2013 And Hyundai Elantra

                   Right now, the two cars dominating the compact car sales charts are the Honda Civic and Hyundai Elantra. The Civic’s 2013 emergency refresh seems a moot point since it still managed to shift almost 65K units last year, its best numbers since 2008, but Honda doesn’t just want to sell cars, they want to maintain their reputation of building good cars. No question the 2013 Civic is a notable improvement, but is it enough to compare favourably to a car that won a previous Autos.ca Comparison Test of leading compact cars?

                   The Hyundai Elantra is a relative upstart in this segment, basically an afterthought until 2009, but since then steadily climbing, selling over 50,000 Elantras in 2012 as they rolled out a hatchback replacing the Touring wagon and an all-new coupe.

So far in 2013, the Elantra has sold 16,872 while the Civic is at 16,711 through April. Could it get any closer?

                   This new hatchback, the so-called Elantra GT, is the model that won the aforesaid comparison, and in our opinion, is superior to the Elantra sedan in many ways beyond simple cargo-carrying capacity. Is it an unfair advantage to compare the Elantra GT hatchback to the Civic sedan? I’d be more than willing to compare it to a Civic hatchback just as soon as Honda decides we North Americans deserve one again, but until then, the Civic faces this same disadvantage in the showrooms as they do in this test.

What is PZEV? We Talking About Cars Here

1. Background

   • The PZEV emissions category derived from an agreement between automakers and the California Air Resources Board that allowed postponement for zero emission vehicles, or ZEVs, such as hydrogen fuel cell or electric vehicles. Automakers were not prepared to mass-produce all-electric vehicles because they were cost prohibitive. The compromise allowed auto manufacturers to produce cars that satisfied PZEV and SULEV guidelines. Another category is the AT-PZEV for Advanced Technology for vehicles consuming no diesel or gasoline. The Honda Civic GX, which runs on natural gas, falls in this category.

   Similar Standards

   • The PZEV follows other standards or is similar to other emission control guidelines implemented by the state of California. An early version was the Transitional Low-Emission Vehicle, or TLEV, that ended in 2004. The Low-Emission Vehicle standard, or LEV, began in 2004. A separate, Ultra Low-Emission Vehicle, or ULEV, which is not as rigorous as the PZEV, categorized vehicles that were 50% cleaner than standard automobiles. In contrast, the SULEV designated vehicles that had 90% fewer emissions than standard automobiles. The PZEV category is the second-most stringent standard with zero evaporative emissions. However, the Zero-Emissions Vehicle, or ZEV, tops all categories with zero harmful tailpipe emissions and runs 98% clean than the average new vehicle model.

   Smog Scores

   • The Air Resources Board certifies each car sold in California, using a Smog Score table that measures non-methane organic gases and oxides of nitrogen and sulfur, or NOx, from the vehicle’s tailpipe that evaporates into the air. The table measures grams per mile. ZEVs measure no non-methane organic gases or NOx grams per mile, giving such vehicles a perfect 10. PZEVs, AT-PZEVs and SULEVs earn a 9 score for having 0.030 grams per mile. However, a SULEV medium-duty truck earns a 3 score for having 0.190 to 0.200 per mile.

   Vehicles

   • Among the cars that earn a PZEV designation are the Honda Accord EX and the Toyota Prius hybrid. PZEV can use gasoline, but they produce fewer emissions while being driven. Honda and Nissan were early producers of PZEV. Nissan, for example, manufactures PZEV-certified Altima and Sentra sedans. The Altima PZEV features a four-cylinder engine that has a reduced output from 175 to 170 horsepower to meet PZEV standards. The Honda Accord EX uses a 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine. These versions are sold in Northeast North America and California. Subaru also produces the all-wheel drive Outback PZEV. Since 2004, BMW, Dodge, Ford, Chrysler, Mazda, Volkswagen, Volvo and Mitsubishi have followed Honda and Nissan in producing PZEV cars.

Read more here:  http://www.ehow.com/info_12216787_pzev-talking-car.html#ixzz2W3CJbDm5

My Review About Honda Civic Hybrids Cars

 The most important thing you should know about hybrids,
 
          What are hybrid cars and why people buy? There are many misconceptions about these cars ideas, and here are some advantages of hybrid cars in order to set the record straight. First we will explain what the term means, why many people prefer them to ordinary cars.

What are Hybrid Cars?          The term "hybrid" is widely used in genetics to describe the offspring of two different species. A mule, for example, is a hybrid of a female horse and a male donkey. When used in cars, the term is for a vehicle driven by two different sources. These are usually an electric motor and internal combustion engine (the latter now as "engine").There is more than one type of hybrid vehicle but two basic options parallel and series hybrid vehicle. Each is distributed according to the function of each energy source in the vehicle. Here are the most common of them.

Hybrid Series 
          Also known as a series hybrid vehicle, a series hybrid car is driven by an electric motor. There is no connection between the electric motor and the engine. The motor is used to provide a generator which is used when the battery is discharged to drive it. For this reason, a series hybrid as Extended Range Electric Vehicle ERVE known).The first car was introduced the Chevy Volt, in 2010. Toyota had already developed a bus with serial hybrid technology. However, most producers are down the road parallel hybrid.

Parallel hybrid car          In the parallel hybrid vehicle, the vehicle can be driven by both the engine and the electric motor. They can be used singly or may be used together. The internal combustion engine and the electric motor, a separate clutch. One or two of them occur. There are various types of parallel hybrid vehicle

Mild parallel hybrid vehicle          In soft-parallel hybrid vehicle has a small electric motor, a power supply, if necessary. For example, it is at the start, and if additional power is needed during the acceleration. A process known as regenerative delay: During deceleration, the motor is charging the battery. Examples include the Honda CR-Z, Insight and Civic Hybrid, GM BAS Hybrid Hybrid and the BMW 7 Series.

Hybrid series parallel (Split Power) 
          Are shared with this kind of hybrid between the two types of engine via a power divider and two couplers. The vehicle can be supplied solely by the engine or by the electric motor, and any combination in between. If not used, the engine can generate power to recharge the batteries.In many cases, the main power is coming from the motor, the electric motor is used, when additional power is needed.
         However, the electric motor can be used preferably to exhaustion to save on gas. This arrangement allows hybrid cars to hit above their weight and achieve a high mileage. The new 2014 Nissan Pathfinder intersection, for example, offers a range of 526 miles from its 19.5-liter and 2.5-gallon fuel tank.Other examples of this type of car is the Toyota Prius and Ford Fusion. These are what most people think they hear hybrids - cars that run on electricity and convert it into a normal engine when the battery is low can. The engine delivers power and recharge the battery.

Plug-in Hybrid          Plug-in hybrids are similar versions of series or parallel, but they have an extra battery to extend the range. The Ford Escape is one example. It is a hybrid series parallel with the additional battery.


Hybrid Fuel Cell Cars
          Hybrid fuel cell cars no combustion engine. They use a combination of battery and hydrogen fuel cell performance. Hydrogen fuel cells are still in their infancy, and this type of vehicle is basically still in development. Nissan is involved in this technology are Hyundai, Mercedes Benz, BMW, Audi, Fiat and others.          The main problem with fuel cells is that there is currently an inefficient way to extract energy, and not in competition with other types of fuels. However, the research and development of automobile manufacturers such as the above is carried out in hydrogen production lead doubt the most effective and efficient ways to use energy.

100% Electric Cars          Electric cars are becoming more popular, and vehicles such as the Nissan LEAF can easily navigate to 60 mph. But until there is wider system of charging on the roads, this type of technology is likely to be limited to shopping and school runs. Electric cars are improving and could one day more efficient than hybrids and less expensive to operate as oil prices continue to rise.          That should answer the question: "What are hybrid cars," but they have a long future depends on advances in hydrogen and electricity production as a source of alternative fuels. Remember, all of these energy sources still fundamentally different from fossil fuels.

Honda Hybrid Specification

Here is what i know about this new honda types,

Overall mpg: 42, according to more stringent 2008 EPA testing regimen 

Safety: 5 stars in NHTSA testing for all but front occupant side impact protection, which is 4 stars.

There are a couple of soft spots in this Honda's otherwise stellar safety regimen. One four-star rating for front seat side impact protection is barely worth mentioning.

                   More disappointing is that electronic stability control, a technology that helps keep the car under control during abrupt maneuvers, is not available on the Civic Hybrid.

                   The Civic Hybrid's mileage comes within shouting distance of a Prius - in terms of highway mileage, they're the same - but it does offer better crash test scores.
Otherwise, its biggest downsides compared to the Prius are less rear-leg room and luggage space.