According to AutoBild Magazine, Honda will soon offer a small CR-V based on Euro Civic to compete to Nissan Qashqai and VW Tiguan.
Powered with the anounced small 1.6L Diesel Engine
Honda hasn't been profitable in Europe since 2007, and would like to break the two-percent market-share barrier in the EU and Russia. To do that, it is looking at a rival to Nissan's Qashqai. Nissan's compact CUV alone outsold the entire Honda lineup in Europe in the first nine months of this year, and by no small margin: 153,079 to 105,918.
Is Honda stupid enough? maybe.
instead of going after proven new segments like the Tiguan and segments like the matrix/mazda3 sport/elantra GT/etc they go after non existing or odd twists on segments like the ILX, Crosstour, ZDX, Insight, CRZ, Element, Ridgeline, Del Sol.
my fear is that they'll "Honda" it making a competitor to the Tiguan with a 2+2 door or have no rear seats or have a useless trunk or overly expensive or some other oddity.
that being said, thats how Honda leads the way sometimes. like the, uh, hmm?
From the article we can also see that Honda is coming out with a new Civic Type R, this time without the "vacuum cleaner"* engine as they call it, however with a turbo engine with 210 HP, 0 -62 mph in 6.5 seconds and top speed of 144 mph. Same HP as VW Golf GTI.
Will be shown at Tokyo Motor Show in 2013 and for sale in Europe early 2014.
I guess the engine will be based on the engine they developed for the WTCC Civic 1.6L turbo.
Maybe old news for some but confirmed news is good news is it not?
* Google translate from German, in German they used the word "sauger" which would be what we call NA in USA or natural aspirated engine. So instead of Google calling it a "sucker" engine they called it a vacuum cleaner.
The CR-V has grown enough to make this a viable proposition in North America. In my personal opinion, the CR-V is now the absolute perfect size for an SUV and the only thing I could wish for is of course, Earth Dreams and a third row.
I remember Honda executives getting flustered by the success of the Qashqai and wanting a piece of the market which they weren't getting with the CR-V.
They were (obviously) under development at the same time, so IMO it's hard to say one copied the other, but certainly one came out first and the other 'followed'
DCR wrote: I believe they brought it to the USA to combat the RAV4 specifically.
If they do decide to produce something like this, hopefully it is good enough to generate some sorely lacking interest over there.
They came out because both Honda and Toyota are rushing for the small SUV market. Honda came a bit later, but they obviously did not follow the RAV4 since they are so different. (I think the first RAV4 is a 2 door cute SUV thing, not sure but that's what I saw first and it was a horrible thing)
With all due respect to Eli Evans and his team, they really don't have any competition this year. His brother, a multiple champion is in the process of developing a Mazda 2 into a challenger, so things should change next year.
Im not gonna be surprised if this doesnt use all wheel double wishbone suspension because they decided to be cheap like Toyota (pre-Akio Toyoda reign).
Btw EU civic has inferior suspension system compared to what's sold in the USA!
mobis21 wrote: So, will this be a return of Honda's HR-V that was sold in Europe. Always loved that vehicle. Some might saw, Nissan FOLLOWED Honda.
But Nissan did their job - enhancing HR-V ino Qashkai:
- better engines (more appealing to EU people) - diesel is a MUST for such vehicle
- not expensive. And 2wd vesion has engine choice too.
- ability to customize standart packages
Honda already did this before - The FR-V or Edix besides the HR-V. Both models were canned because it is claimed that they did not sell. As usual, Honda simply did not market it widely enough or did not develop it enough because the Edix is actually popular here in parts of ASEAN as a parallel import.
HONDA AFVM wrote: It wouldn't look like a FIT, it would just be in the FIT line........An inexpensive fun little coupe......
I think it's called a CRZ lol
FISH.......
LOL! You must be able to tell I was up for 40 hours.....Never went to bed 31 Aug......and I got up at 6am 31 Aug.....so by 11 pm 1 Sep......I don't think I could tell the difference from Wynonna Judd or Winona Ryder........I meant small 4x4 coupe looking SUV as the picture showed.
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