Honda Starts Production of New European Civic Hatch at Swindon Plant

Honda revealed today the it has begun rolling out the new Civic at its UK plant in Swindon, which returned to its normal production rates after a disruption due to lack of parts caused by the Thai floods. Read more »

Surprise, Surprise: Canada's Most Stolen Vehicle is the 2009 Toyota Venza, Pontiac Aztec Makes Top 10

Who would have ever guessed that car thieves in Canada have a thing for the Toyota Venza? Yet, the 2009 model year version of Toyota's crossover topped the Insurance Bureau of Canada’s [IBC] top 10 most frequently stolen vehicles this year.

The 2009 Venza takes the crown from the 2000 Honda Civic SiR Coupe that was last year’s number one stolen vehicle but dropped to third place in 2011, just below the 1999 Honda Civic SiR Coupe.

The Japanese carmaker's models prove to be very popular among Canadian thieves as the 1998 and 1999 Acura Integra Coupe also made the list taking the 9th and 10th spot respectively.

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Acura CSX: Canada's Posh Honda Civic Sedan

As some of you readers rightly pointed out in our post on the upcoming 2013 Acura ILX compact sedan, the TSX is not Acura's cheapest offering in North America. This dazzling title goes to the Canadian market CSX.

It doesn't take much to see that the CSX and the previous, eighth generation of the Honda Civic sedan are one and alike minus some discreet styling changes at the front and at the rear, and a more posh interior with all the extras ticked.

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1999 Honda Civic Coupe "Converted to a 2011 BMW M3"

We know what some of you may be thinking upon viewing the pictures, and to answer your first question, no, this is not Acura's upcoming ILX luxury compact model that is slated to debut in Detroit in January. Instead, it's one of those bizarre creations we occasionally find over at the crazy world of Craigslist.

Much like the Saab 900S Convertible turned into a Cadillac of some sorts that we showed you last week, this 1999 Honda Civic Coupe is supposed to resemble a BMW.

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Honda CEO Takes Personal Responsibility for Underwhelming U.S. Civic

As you may already know, even though they share the same name, the European and North American Honda Civics are two very different cars.

This is good news for Honda’s European arm, since the Frankfurt Motor Show-launched five-door hatch received a warm welcome, but bad news for their colleagues in North America who have faced a barrage of criticism.

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Honda Details New 118HP 1.6-liter Turbo Diesel Engine for Europe

There's another new diesel engine created for the European market, this time from Honda that has just introduced a new 1.6-liter unit. The Japanese automaker's president and CEO, Takanobu Ito, made the announcement today at the Tokyo Motor Show.

The brand new 1.6-liter turbocharged four-cylinder diesel unit joins Honda's revised 2.2-liter i-DTEC diesel, which delivers 150HP. The smaller unit is rated at 118HP (120PS) at 4,000 rpm and has a peak torque of 300Nm (221.3 lb-ft) at 2,000 rpm.

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Hyundai Rumored to Debut New Elantra Coupe at 2011 LA Auto Show

We are a long way from the 2011 Los Angeles Auto Show and many things may change in the meantime, but for now, the word from the team over at Insideline is that Hyundai will head to California this fall to unveil a new coupe version of its freshly launched Elantra model. The two-door model will offer Hyundai a direct rival to the 2012 Honda Civic Coupe in the U.S. market. Read more »

Honda Patents New 2012 Civic Sedan and Coupe Designs in Europe

A peek through the European patent office files revealed images of Honda’s freshly launched in North America, 2012 Civic in both four-door sedan and two-door coupe guise. Given that the European market will get its own, bespoke version of the Civic, chances are that Honda simply wanted to cover its back like most of the competition just in case another automaker (we are looking towards you China) got any crazy ideas.

However, it is possible that Honda will offer the four-door saloon model in certain European countries to compete against the Volkswagen Jetta. With the exception of one version of the Civic sedan seen in this set of images and which features slightly modified taillights with additional strips that extend towards the license plate holder, there are no other differences compared to the North American Civic.

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Honda: US Output to Reach 100% by August for All Models Except the New 2012 Civic which will Remain at 50%

Following a recent announcement from Toyota predicting an increase in North American production this summer after the problems created by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, Honda today said that its North American factories would return to near-normal production for all vehicles except the new 2012 Civic by this August. Read more »

Hilarious Honda Malaysia Ad Mocks Independent Service Centers

As car owners, most of us have had bad experiences with auto service stations, either official or independent. Of course, carmakers don't like competition from independent units, so here's what Honda of Malaysia thinks of these stations. In a commercial for the local market, Honda mocks an independent garage called “HONDI” which, as you may have already assumed, offers bad service for big bucks.

A beautiful young woman, owner of a Honda Civic, is shown taking her car to the Hondi service center, where all sorts of strange things happen, with the personnel doing a crappy job while singing their own version of the famous “YMCA” song. If only service stations were such a blast... Follow the jump to watch the ad.

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Honda UK Dealers Offer Factory-Backed MUGEN Tuning Bits

Honda fans in Britain can now trick out their cars with original Mugen performance parts backed by a factory-warranty straight from their dealer. The Japanese automaker said that a total of eight Honda dealers across the UK have launched the MUGEN Original Parts Programme offering a range of tuning parts, accessories and merchandise from the company's semi-official tuning partner.

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