JAMES HANNAH
Associated Press

There is more at stake for Ohio than just 1,500 high-paying jobs in the fight for where Honda Motor Co. will build its new, $400 million auto-assembly plant.

Success means boosting Ohio’s status as a major player in the auto industry while tightening its grip as the second-leading producer of cars and light trucks in the nation.

“The economic value of those jobs is so high, it obviously would be a real plum,” said David Cole, president of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Honda announced plans this month to build the plant as part of a $1.18 billion global expansion. The facility will boost the Japanese automaker’s North American production capacity from 1.4 million to 1.6 million vehicles a year for a company whose profit more than doubled to a record $1.9 billion in the first quarter.

Honda has said it plans to build the plant in the Midwest by 2008, but will not identify potential sites.

Ohio officials are promoting sites near Van Wert, about 75 miles southwest of Toledo, and another one near Octa, about 40 miles southwest of Columbus, as possible locations for the plant. Indiana officials have pinpointed sites in the southeast part of the state between Indianapolis and Cincinnati. Michigan economic development officials say they also have presented a proposal to Honda.

Read the full story here!

The Torqueless Wonder

This thing is loud, its obnoxious, and its perfect for me. I jest, I jest. Its not exactly perfect for me, but its so much like me that I had to get that off my hairy chest right away. Those were my primary first impressions, which remain relatively unchanged at the end of a week-long stint, but I learned how to extract almost every ounce of go-juice from this torqueless wonder. Yeah, 197 horsepower is all well and good, but 139 lb-ft of torque? I think I used to drive a riding mower that had more low-end grunt. Okay, I exaggerate, but the inflated horsepower, low torque and boy-racer muffler means youre in for a lot of loud, heavy-footed clutch drops and a lick of spinning rubber before the limited slip differential kicks in and launches you away from traffic.

Nonetheless, despite all the acrid smoke and screaming revs, traffic was securely on my bumper, something I got used to losing in the WRX Id recently driven; but that was clearly an unfair advantage with all-wheel drive putting 235 lb-ft of torque down to all four Bridgestone Blizzak winter boots, in the slush and snow no less. Sadly, even the base Impreza puts out 166 lb-ft, never mind the Sis true competition, like the VW GTI and its 207 lb-ft or the equally torquey Chevrolet Cobalt SS Supercharged. Still, the Si fits the sporty bill, but nowhere will you see me attach powerful as a descriptive of its performance, as its power is all smoke and noise. Once you get around its hobbled jump off the line, the Si rounds into form (or, more appropriately, rounds the corner in fine form, meaning exceptionally flat through the apex) with many nice touches to help you forget any inadequacies you may experience from stoplights, because while industry standard rates everything by 0 to 60 mph, fun in the city is all about 0-30 and 0-40 times, or just plain being awake enough to surprise the old lady with the big hair in her Mercedes AMG.

Read the rest of this road test @ Automobile.com!

By RICHARD WILLIAMSON
Scripps Howard News Service
04-MAY-06

New research from Honda shows that 35,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions could be avoided if just 1 in 5 drivers switched to more environmentally-friendly cars.

The figures reveal that a switch by 20 percent of motorists in the capital would save the equivalent weight of 4 Big Ben towers in pollution. To push the message home, Honda has launched a “No Choke” campaign to highlight the need for greener cars in London - cars like its own Civic Hybrid, launched earlier this year.

Read the full story @ AutoExpress.co.uk!

By Phil Huff - April 30 2006

The Honda Racing F1 Team will have use of their new wind tunnel a full three months early, and that means the RA106 will see the first benefits.

The tunnel should be up and running early in May, and fully calibrated by the end of July, three months ahead of the original target, and Geoffrey Willis is sure that the tunnel will directly influence the development direction of the RA106.

“By the end of August or early September we can perhaps have the first fruits of the new wind tunnel on the car,” Willis explained to F1Total.com.

Read the full story here!