Honda Fixes Civic?

You have probably been living under a rock if you have no idea how badly the 2012 Civic has been smashed by the media. Honda, surprisingly, has noticed this too and is rising from its laurels to revamp the car for 2013. It was originally expected to revamp the model in 2014 but growing criticism has fast-tracked the plan. Honda America's president says that they take feedback seriously and will act accordingly quickly. However, he does not know what the automaker will address in the refreshed 2013 Civic.

2012 Civic Natural Gas, Green Car of the Year Finalist

One of the five finalists for the 2012 Green Car of the Year award which will be presented at the LA Auto Show next month is the Honda Civic Natural Gas model. The award is presented by the Green Car Journal whom is dedicated to providing enthusiasts, environmentalists and consumers with the most up-to-date information about green cars and technologies. The Green Car of the Year recognizes new vehicles that have become available since January 1st of the current year. Go Civic!

Civic UK Strong Residual Values

Honda’s strong reliability record and reputation for high quality products has helped the new Civic secure impressive residual values and improved insurance group ratings, ensuring the 2012 Civic will have some of the lowest running costs in the C-segment.

Based on a three year/60,000 mile profile EurotaxGlass’s predicts the 150PS 2.2 i-DTEC ES will retain 42 per cent of its cost new price over a three year/60,000 mile period.

CAP estimates that both the Civic 150PS 2.2 i-DTEC ES and entry-level 100 PS 1.4 i-VTEC will achieve a trade value of 38 per cent of their original cost new price. This equates to £8,050 and £6,175 respectively.

“We have worked really hard to improve the way we communicate our new models and the new Civic is the first model to benefit from this work. Our target was to have all the relevant new vehicle data including pricing, SMR and insurance groupings with the data providers in time for the data to be packaged and released on the day the car was unveiled at Frankfurt – and we achieved it,” commented Ollie Parsons, National Leasing and SMR Manager, Honda (UK).

“On the 30 September we opened our order books for the new car and every single leasing company was in a position to give a customer a quote. This will be how we will launch all new Honda cars in the future.”

The new Civic has also secured insurance group ratings four to five groups lower than the outgoing model to help drive ownership costs down even further. The entry-level 1.4 i-VTEC SE Civic boasts an 8E rating – signalling a drop of four groups over the previous model. The same goes for the 2.2 i-DTEC top of the range EX GT which now fits into the 20E band.

“These excellent residual value predictions and insurance ratings combined with lower CO2 emissions and improved fuel consumption make the Civic a very competitive proposition for both private and corporate customers,” commented Dave Hodgetts, Managing Director, Honda (UK). “The new Civic has a proud legacy to continue and with stand-out design, class-leading space and versatility and even higher quality we’re confident that the ninth generation of the Civic is the best yet.”

2012 Honda Civic is Number 1 in California

Honda's 2012 Civic became the best-selling passenger car in California with 30 000 units sold in the first nine months of 2011 according to the Sacramento New Cars Association. The Civic holds a slight edge over the Honda Accord which is second. New car sales rose 9.4% in the 3rd quarter in California compared to the same quarter last year.

Indiana Plant Production Increases

Honda has now increased its production capacity in Indiana to 200 000 units per year. This plant makes the Civic Sedan and the Civic Natural Gas model. The second shift has now been started and 1000 new associates have been added. This is a welcome sign to normality following the Japanese earthquake disruptions earlier this year. Parts for Indiana-built Civics are supplied by 225 companies in the US and Canada.

2013 Honda Civic Refresh?

Honda's 2012 Civic hasn't been having a great time with critics lately, or rather, ever since its introduction. With complaints over a hard dashboard, warmed over exterior styling, unchanged engine and chassis components and the dilution of Gen 9's sportiness, there is no wonder that Honda is considering a refresh for the new 2012 Civic as soon as December 2013. Rumors are that Honda will come out with a more refreshed and aggressively styled Civic in response to dealer complaints and concerns over the new Civic. It also appears that the 2013 models will see changes to the Civic LX model with upgraded interior materials across the line and improved wheels and tires for the LX trim level, if you didn't remember, this was the model that was bashed endlessly by Consumer Reports. Whether or not Honda decides to follow through with rumors, we'll let you know! More to come ...

More Work

Honda is about to start a second production shift in southeastern Indiana that builds the Civic sedan and Natural Gas model after the onslaught of hiring almost 1000 new employees. This new shift will be put into place at the Greensburg factory on October 24th and will double the plant's workforce and increase annual production to 200 000 vehicles.

Earlier in the year, Honda cut production in half at the Greensburg plant due to the tsunami impacting worldwide production but normality has since been returned to the plant last month. Thankfully, no workers were laid off in the downtime.

Honda's Greensburg plant is the exclusive plant to build the 2012 Honda Civic Natural Gas. Honda believes it will be selling 4x more than before considering it is expanding the availability of the model from 72 Honda dealers in 4 states to 200 dealers in 36 states.

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