All-New Honda Ridgeline Pickup to Debut Within Two Years

An all-new Honda Ridgeline pickup truck will come to market in less than two years and, today, Honda shared a sketch expressing the new truck's styling direction. Honda also confirmed that production of the current Ridgeline, built exclusively by Honda Manufacturing of Alabama, LLC, in Lincoln, Alabama, will conclude in mid-2014.

Like the innovative first-generation model that earned 2006 North American Truck of the Year and Motor Trend Truck of the Year honors after its fall 2005 debut, the next-gen Ridgeline is being designed and developed by Honda R&D Americas, Inc. at its Los Angeles and Ohio R&D centers.

The Honda Ridgeline broke new ground in the American pickup market with its unique design featuring a spacious five-passenger cabin, smooth ride and handling, and half-ton truck capability. The first truck of its kind to be built on a closed-box unibody platform, the Ridgeline introduced innovative new features to the pickup segment, such as its large In-Bed Trunk® and dual-action tailgate.

"The next generation Ridgeline will build on Honda's role in creating new value with a new take on advancing form and function in the truck segment," said Michael Accavitti, senior vice president of automobile operations for American Honda Motor Co., Inc. "With a clear path forward, Ridgeline will play an even more important role in our future product portfolio and strengthen an already class-leading lineup of light trucks."

Sales of Ridgeline have enjoyed strong momentum in 2013, strengthened recently by the introduction of a new top-of-the-line Special Edition model for 2014, with sales totaling 16,160 units through the first 11 months of the year, an increase of 29 percent.

Check out the current Ridgeline at AutoNation Honda O'Hare and be sure to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for further news and updates.

Honda Joins Vehicle-to-Grid Technology Demonstration Project in Partnership with University of Delaware and NRG Energy

Honda has joined a demonstration project for experimental vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology aimed at providing a potentially valuable energy storage resource to the nation's electrical grid while providing for more cost-effective ownership of plug-in electric vehicles. 

The Honda technology builds off of the research conducted by the University of Delaware and now supported by NRG Energy, Inc.  NRG and the University of Delaware, through their eV2g joint venture, came online early in 2013 with the world's first revenue-generating vehicle-to-grid project, demonstrating the controls, regulatory requirements, and market participation rules for selling energy storage from vehicles into the PJM Interconnection Regulation Market. Honda is supplying an Accord Plug-In Hybrid with added V2G capabilities to the University's Science, Technology and Advanced Research (STAR) Campus to jointly investigate the potential of this technology to benefit the electrical grid, vehicle owners and society.

Using smart grid technology, the V2G system is able to monitor the status of the grid to determine whether the grid requires additional power sources that can respond rapidly, or the grid requires power demands that can absorb transitional power supply. Such a system has the potential to reduce or eliminate the fluctuation of the grid, which can occur more frequently when renewable energy sources are introduced to the grid. Electric vehicle owners potentially benefit from supporting a more stable power grid, which can lead to reduced utility costs for the vehicle owner. 

The Honda Accord Plug-In Hybrid demonstration vehicle is equipped with a bi-directional on-board charger, which allows the vehicle propulsion battery to both charge from and discharge to the electrical grid.  With an additional communication device, the vehicle receives signals from a grid operator via a charging station, and controls charge and discharge in accordance with the signals.  When electric power is requested by the grid, the vehicle will discharge power from its battery.  When the grid power supply exceeds demand, the vehicle proactively charges its battery.

Build a Plug-In Hybrid Accord at AutoNation Honda O'Hare and be sure to stay up to date on our Facebook and Twitter for more news and updates.

2014 Honda Civic Goes On-Sale Today with a Restyled Coupe, Higher Tech, Better Fuel Efficiency and an Improved Driving Experience

The significantly enhanced 2014 Honda Civic officially goes on-sale today with a manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP) starting at $18,190 for the Civic LX Coupe and $18,390 for the Civic LX Sedan. We should have ours any day now.

Extensive fresh and dynamic exterior styling updates on the Civic Coupe and premium interior refinements to all models further enhance the Civic aesthetic appeal. New available features on the 2014 Civic include the 7-inch capacitive touch-screen Display Audio, LaneWatch™ blind spot monitor and Smart Entry with Push Button start. The 2014 Civic also marks the introduction of the HondaLink™ Next Generation connected-car technology. HondaLink™ is an application-based platform that allows a seamless integration between a user's smartphone and the car, providing access to online and cloud-based content and information.

An all-new CVT is available on the gasoline only powered Coupe and Sedan. The CVT enhances responsiveness by providing quicker and smoother acceleration and due to its wider ratio range and reduced internal friction, the CVT helped the LX Coupe and LX and EX Sedans to an improvement of 2 mpg city and 1 mpg combined for EPA fuel economy ratings of 30/39/33 city/highway/combined.

The Civic Coupe is available in LX and EX trims with a 5-speed manual transmission or the new CVT and EX-L and EX-L Navi versions with CVT. The Civic Sedan comes in LX 5-speed manual or CVT and EX, EX-L and EX-L Navi with CVT. A Civic Sedan HF with CVT is also available. In the next few days, you'll be able to view, build and price a 2014 Honda Civic at www.autonationhondaohare.com/inventory/view/Make/Honda/Model/Civic/New/SortBy0/.

TRIM	MSRP	EPA Fuel Economy Ratings (city/highway/combined)
Civic Coupe LX 5MT	$18,190	28/36/31
Civic Coupe LX CVT	$18,990	30/39/33
Civic Coupe EX 5MT	$20,290	28/36/31
Civic Coupe EX CVT	$21,090	29/38/33
Civic Coupe EX-L CVT	$22,540	29/38/33
Civic Coupe EX-L Navi CVT	$24,040	29/38/33
Civic Sedan LX 5MT	$18,390	28/36/31
Civic Sedan LX CVT	$19,190	30/39/33
Civic Sedan EX CVT	$21,090	30/39/33
Civic Sedan EX-L CVT	$22,740	30/39/33
Civic Sedan EX-L Navi CVT	$24,240	30/39/33
Civic Sedan HF CVT	$19,940	31/41/35

 
Come test drive a Civic as soon as they arrive at AutoNation Honda O'Hare and be sure to stay up to date on our Facebook and Twitter.