2010 Mid-Year Honda CEO Speech. (hint of new engine)

[human668]

Temple of VTEC Rumors and News - Summary of 2010 Mid-Year CEO Speech

Above link is a summary of 2010 mid year Honda CEO speech.
For those who are waiting for Honda to renew their engine line up. Here is the info.
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{Gasoline engine}

* In the mid-term, internal combustion engines will remain as the main source of power for automobiles, and therefore Honda will continue advancing technologies to improve the performance and fuel economy of internal combustion engines. Honda will begin renewing its engine and transmission lineup starting in 2012 to further improve its fuel economy.
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I guess there may be a new engine for CR-Z's MMC. Don't expect anything exciting before 2012.

[bizzybear]

seems like news of a new Honda engine has everyone flocking to read about this and it caused the site server to crash the page won't load for me... and i doubt the CR-Z will get a new engine on MMC... wouldn't make sense to use the tech for only 3 years of the car then change it... my guess is if anything they develop, would be a more powerful fuel efficient CR-Z which they will then call CR-Z Si or R... that's the only time i see that trim level being released if ever on this current gen ZF1...

i did expect this news to come soon... i mean i've read for a while that Honda is working on a "larger hybrid engine" for mid-full size vehicles including the Acura line-up... it would only make sense that they would release a new engine for the entire lineup...

all they really need to do is add Direct Injection to the K-series engine and release it as X-series or something... that alone will significantly add FE and power to an already super efficient engine...


i am really excited to hear about the larger Hybrid coming from Honda in the future... can't wait to see the specs on those...

[JnC]

I hope prospects of a new engine will translate to another round of development with the CRZ like there was with the CRX. I would be very disappointed if the CRZ was just a one off diversion like the Del Sol or S2000.

The engine update needs to be as soon as 2012, as Fiat, Mini, and Hyundai are positioned to hurt CRZ sales in 2011 once the novelty has died down. This is too neat of a car to not have a followup.

My hopes for a CRZ update:
Lighter battery, more powerful IMA motor
Direct injection
Twin-cam (not as likely, but it's very dependent on what Honda does with the Fit and similar low displacement motors)
Light duty turbo (out of character for Honda in the US market & rather unlikely. With electric IMA torque at low revs, a small turbo would be a great match to enhance the powerband. Note the above competitors have turbos. But none of them have a light electric motor to boost off the line torque.)

I don't see a non-hybrid variant of the CRZ anytime soon from Honda, due to how the chassis and rear suspension are so throughly committed to handling the mid placed mass of the battery pack. I think we're most likely to see an incremental update within the existing architecture.

[Chris]

Originally Posted by JnC

I would be very disappointed if the CRZ was just a one off diversion like the Del Sol or S2000.

Haha, those weren't diversions lol. And the S2000 went through two different models lol.

This is what I have in mind: a hybrid motor that revs to the sky and happily sings me a song in the process. Maybe with a sprinkling of VTEC on top to keep me on the back of my seat after IMA loses thrust?

[bizzybear]