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211 – Honda cleans up

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27 May 2009

I went along to a presentation of the new Honda Insight recently. It was being made by Graham Avant, Honda’s corporate operations manager to… well, as you would expect, some of Honda’s big corporate customers.

It was an interesting presentation. “Hybrid technology at mainstream prices,” was Graham’s key point about the Insight, as he outlined Honda’s approach to producing low emission company cars. This would include more hybrid cars – 10% of all Honda’s global sales by 2010 – and a sports coupe hybrid by the end of this year; lower emission diesels for the bigger cars, such as the Accord; and, in the future, fuel cell cars like the Honda FCX Clarity.

But the one thing that really struck me was Honda’s approach to manufucturing. Honda’s founder, Sochiro Honda, once famously said back in 1956 that: “After materials are carried into the factory, nothing but products should be carried out.” Honda is staying true to its founder’s word. The Honda plant in Swindon has managed to reduce its waste from car production from 71kg per car in 1994 to just 6kg a car by 2007. Next year it plans to produce zero waste. Some achievement I reckon.

Anyway, I left Graham to the corporate guys and sneaked off with Honda’s corporate sales manager Ollie Parsons – not to drive the Insight but get one of the first tests of the new high-power Honda Accord diesel – the Type S.

This really is some car – the car the Accord should have been at its launch in many ways, the 18 inch wheels seem to have transformed the ride and handling. It also has a bigger turbo, a bigger intercooler, and the engine management has been remapped. The result? More power (180PS, which is plus 30PS) and bucketloads of torque (380Nm, although subjectively it feels much more); and only slightly more emissions – 154g/km, up from 150g/km.

And yet, as Ollie told me, that’s only part of the emissions story. The actual amount of NOx – harmful nitrous oxides – is actually reduced, from 136 to 134. Although Ollie said the difference was so small Honda would not be including it in its official figures. “I think the real figure to focus on,” said Ollie, “is that both the Type S saloon and Type S Tourer have CO2 emissions under the key 160g/km tax break, which is essential for keeping business car costs down.”

To read a road test of the Honda Insight, click on this highlighted link Honda Insight: practical hybrid business car

To read a road test of the Honda Accord Type S, click on this highlighted link Accord Type S: high-power Honda
Manufacturer aims for zero waste

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Ralph Morton

Ralph Morton

Ralph Morton is an award-winning journalist and the founder of Business Car Manager (now renamed Business Motoring). Ralph writes extensively about the car and van leasing industry as well as wider fleet and company car issues. A former editor of What Car?, Ralph is a vastly experienced writer and editor and has been writing about the automotive sector for over 35 years.

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