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| Honda Motor Co. President Takanobu Ito shows Honda NSX hybrid concept car, left, and Honda S660 concept car at the Tokyo Motor Show earlier this month. (Shizuo Kambayashi/AP Photo) |
For Honda Motor Co., while it’s safe to say certain models in the company’s lineup are unqualified successes – the Accord, for example – it’s equally correct to note that others have fallen far short of expectations.
On its stand at the show was the RA271, the car with which Honda first competed in Grand Prix racing in 1964. A few spots down was the latest prototype version of the Honda/Acura NSX, its highly anticipated sports car, which is due to be released in 2015.
By no coincidence, Honda will return to Grand Prix racing that same year as the exclusive engine supplier to the McLaren Formula One team.
The changes include a move away from the series’ naturally aspirated 2.4-litre V-8 engine to a turbocharged 1.6-litre V-6, as well as greater use of energy recovery technology. The expected specifications for the NSX reveal that Honda is on the same page: the hybrid will rely heavily on a turbocharged V-6 engine and on energy regeneration.
This technology, in a different form, was on display at the company’s R&D facility in Tochigi where journalists got a crack at the forthcoming Acura RLX Sport Hybrid SH-AWD (super handling all-wheel drive). The next flagship for Honda’s luxury division, which will arrive in Canada in 2014, employs a 3.5-litre V-6 gas engine linked to no fewer than three electric motors – one in the front and one at each rear wheel.
The motors in the back trigger a torque vectoring system that sends power to the outside wheels to help with cornering. While many all-wheel drive cars show a tendency to understeer in such situations (they don’t want to turn when you want them to turn), the RLX hybrid did not. In fact, a few quick laps around one of the test facility’s tracks revealed that the strength of the Acura could be its predictable, smile-inducing handling.
The RLX Sport Hybrid powertrain produces 377 hp, promises superior fuel economy to the non-hybrid version and showcases Honda’s first dual-clutch automatic transmission – so it will be a technological tour de force for the manufacturer. The NSX will also incorporate a hybrid all-wheel drive system, although details have yet to be released.
The SH-AWD system was just one of three hybrid powertrains that Honda has developed and all three were on display in Tochigi. We also sampled the i-MMD (Intelligent Multi-Mode Drive) system that is used in the largely wonderful Honda Accord Hybrid (on sale in Canada) and the Accord Plug-In Hybrid (which we may not receive).
“Hybrids will generate fuel efficiency that internal combustion alone will never give us,” Ito said. “We will see wide adoption of hybrids over the next 10 years.”
Hybrids comprise 40 per cent of the market in Japan, but a smaller percentage in Canada. Hybrids prove most popular when the price is not significantly greater than that for the non-hybrid equivalent, as is the case with the Hybrid Fit in Japan. In Canada, only the next-generation gas-powered Fit will arrive next year.
In parallel with the company’s continued focus on hybrid powertrains is its intention to develop “downsized” turbo engines, more Continuously Variable Transmissions, a smattering of diesels and, in the long term, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.
“The hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle is the ultimate expression of personal mobility,” Ito said. “We believe it’s the best in terms of environmental performance. Until [it’s ready], there will be a number of efforts in other areas, including improvements to the internal combustion engine.”
Honda is at the crossroads – some of the car technologies being developed will have a limited shelf life, others may never bear fruit and still others could drive future success for decades.
Source;
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-drive/new-cars/auto-news/new-power-generation-honda-on-the-cutting-edge/article15637882/
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