Honda rakes up 7,000 orders for Fit Shuttle, Fit Shuttle Hybrid

Earlier this week, Honda unveiled the new Fit Shuttle and Fit Shuttle Hybrid. The Honda Fit Shuttle and the Honda Fit Shuttle Hybrid are both offered in 2wD and 4WD with prices starting at at ¥1,610,000 for the Fit Shuttle and ¥1,810,000 for the Fit Shuttle Hybrid.

So far, Honda has raked up 7,000 orders for the new model with 90 percent of the pre-order sales coming in for the Honda Fit Shuttle Hybrid.

Will this encourage Honda to bring the Fit Shuttle lineup to the United States? It just might.

Refresher: The Honda Fit Shuttle is powered by a 1.5L i-VTEC gasoline unit allowing it to average an estimated fuel-economy of 44 mpg using Japan’s 10·15 testing mode. The Honda Fit Shuttle Hybrid is powered by a 1.3L i-VTEC engine mated to the company’s IMA (Integrated Motor Assist) hybrid system. It returns an estimated fuel-economy of 59 mpg.

Source;
http://www.egmcartech.com/2011/06/18/honda-rakes-up-7000-orders-for-fit-shuttle-fit-shuttle-hybrid/

Honda rakes up 7,000 orders for Fit Shuttle, Fit Shuttle Hybrid

Earlier this week, Honda unveiled the new Fit Shuttle and Fit Shuttle Hybrid. The Honda Fit Shuttle and the Honda Fit Shuttle Hybrid are both offered in 2wD and 4WD with prices starting at at ¥1,610,000 for the Fit Shuttle and ¥1,810,000 for the Fit Shuttle Hybrid.

So far, Honda has raked up 7,000 orders for the new model with 90 percent of the pre-order sales coming in for the Honda Fit Shuttle Hybrid.

Will this encourage Honda to bring the Fit Shuttle lineup to the United States? It just might.

Refresher: The Honda Fit Shuttle is powered by a 1.5L i-VTEC gasoline unit allowing it to average an estimated fuel-economy of 44 mpg using Japan’s 10·15 testing mode. The Honda Fit Shuttle Hybrid is powered by a 1.3L i-VTEC engine mated to the company’s IMA (Integrated Motor Assist) hybrid system. It returns an estimated fuel-economy of 59 mpg.

Source;
http://www.egmcartech.com/2011/06/18/honda-rakes-up-7000-orders-for-fit-shuttle-fit-shuttle-hybrid/

2012 Honda FIT Shuttle Late Honda car debut turns into hot event

Not for us in North America.... yet....
Honda headquarters is sweltering, executives are without ties and reporters are fanning themselves in a scene illustrative of the nation's struggle to conserve electricity since March 11, when the massive earthquake and tsunami sent the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant into meltdown.

The scene unfolded as Honda Motor Co. launched the Fit Shuttle station wagon, including hybrid versions, for the domestic market Thursday — three months later than planned — another sign of the disaster's widespread impact.

The quake and tsunami destroyed Honda's parts suppliers, dealers and design facility in the Tohoku region.

Still, President Takanobu Ito was relieved the company had come this far.

"It was a real tough three months for us," he told reporters, wearing a casual beige jacket and no tie instead of his usual dark suits.

Cool Biz, the annual practice of allowing less formal attire to be worn in the office during the summer, is finally being embraced in a big way in the name of saving power. Now dubbed Super Cool Biz, some employees are even being encouraged to wear Aloha shirts and shorts.

Although no Honda executives were seen in shorts and their shirts were relatively staid, the nuclear crisis hung like a cloud over the event.

Tokyo-based Honda's invitation to the product launch — one of the first since March 11 — had warned that thermostats will be set at 28 degrees and that executives would be dressed in Cool Biz attire.

In addition to the Fukushima No. 1 crisis, which is expected to take years to resolve, another power plant was shut down months later over safety fears, causing the government to pressure companies and consumers to cut back on power use.

Automakers, a pillar of the economy, are under great pressure to cut power use 15 percent.
Autoworkers are producing cars on weekends and will instead take Thursdays and Fridays off for the next three months starting in July to reduce the load on power companies and avoid blackouts during peak demand periods.

Honda has said vehicle production in Japan will return to predisaster levels by the end of this month, and global production in August or September.

All orders for the Fit Shuttle will be delivered in two months' time, said Sho Minekawa, the executive in charge of Japan sales. There are no plans to offer the model overseas so far.

"We are finally able to introduce this product," he said. "We apologize to all those who have been waiting."

The Fit Shuttle, which comes as a hybrid (starting at ¥1.81 million) and with a gasoline engine (starting at ¥1.61 million), delivers the same mileage as the smaller Fit hatchback, according to Honda.

The hybrid version delivers 30 km per liter, or about 70 mpg, under Japanese test conditions, it said.

Honda is expecting its profit for the fiscal year through next March to plunge 63.5 percent to ¥195 billion from the previous year because of parts shortages and other disaster woes.

The maker of the Civic sedan and Odyssey minivan was battered by the cost of fixing damaged property and equipment, higher raw material costs, the strong yen and research expenses related to future products, such as environmental technology. Honda's global vehicle sales for the current fiscal year are projected to drop 6 percent on year to 3.3 million vehicles.

Honda to hire 1,000 temps
Kyodo
Honda Motor Co. will hire about 1,000 term employees at domestic plants, including in Saitama and Mie prefectures, during the second half of fiscal 2011 to cope with increased production expected from October to March, company sources said Thursday.

Honda is taking the measure because production is recovering from the March 11 catastrophe more quickly than anticipated and is expected to return to near normal by late June, they said.

The automaker will therefore withdraw its earlier plan set in April to gradually reduce the approximately 600 term employees at the plant in Saitama to zero by the end of September.

Honda will renew contracts of term employees if they want to do so, even for those whose employment contracts have already expired, they said.

Source;
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nb20110617a1.html

2012 Honda FIT Shuttle Late Honda car debut turns into hot event

Not for us in North America.... yet....
Honda headquarters is sweltering, executives are without ties and reporters are fanning themselves in a scene illustrative of the nation's struggle to conserve electricity since March 11, when the massive earthquake and tsunami sent the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant into meltdown.

The scene unfolded as Honda Motor Co. launched the Fit Shuttle station wagon, including hybrid versions, for the domestic market Thursday — three months later than planned — another sign of the disaster's widespread impact.

The quake and tsunami destroyed Honda's parts suppliers, dealers and design facility in the Tohoku region.

Still, President Takanobu Ito was relieved the company had come this far.

"It was a real tough three months for us," he told reporters, wearing a casual beige jacket and no tie instead of his usual dark suits.

Cool Biz, the annual practice of allowing less formal attire to be worn in the office during the summer, is finally being embraced in a big way in the name of saving power. Now dubbed Super Cool Biz, some employees are even being encouraged to wear Aloha shirts and shorts.

Although no Honda executives were seen in shorts and their shirts were relatively staid, the nuclear crisis hung like a cloud over the event.

Tokyo-based Honda's invitation to the product launch — one of the first since March 11 — had warned that thermostats will be set at 28 degrees and that executives would be dressed in Cool Biz attire.

In addition to the Fukushima No. 1 crisis, which is expected to take years to resolve, another power plant was shut down months later over safety fears, causing the government to pressure companies and consumers to cut back on power use.

Automakers, a pillar of the economy, are under great pressure to cut power use 15 percent.
Autoworkers are producing cars on weekends and will instead take Thursdays and Fridays off for the next three months starting in July to reduce the load on power companies and avoid blackouts during peak demand periods.

Honda has said vehicle production in Japan will return to predisaster levels by the end of this month, and global production in August or September.

All orders for the Fit Shuttle will be delivered in two months' time, said Sho Minekawa, the executive in charge of Japan sales. There are no plans to offer the model overseas so far.

"We are finally able to introduce this product," he said. "We apologize to all those who have been waiting."

The Fit Shuttle, which comes as a hybrid (starting at ¥1.81 million) and with a gasoline engine (starting at ¥1.61 million), delivers the same mileage as the smaller Fit hatchback, according to Honda.

The hybrid version delivers 30 km per liter, or about 70 mpg, under Japanese test conditions, it said.

Honda is expecting its profit for the fiscal year through next March to plunge 63.5 percent to ¥195 billion from the previous year because of parts shortages and other disaster woes.

The maker of the Civic sedan and Odyssey minivan was battered by the cost of fixing damaged property and equipment, higher raw material costs, the strong yen and research expenses related to future products, such as environmental technology. Honda's global vehicle sales for the current fiscal year are projected to drop 6 percent on year to 3.3 million vehicles.

Honda to hire 1,000 temps
Kyodo
Honda Motor Co. will hire about 1,000 term employees at domestic plants, including in Saitama and Mie prefectures, during the second half of fiscal 2011 to cope with increased production expected from October to March, company sources said Thursday.

Honda is taking the measure because production is recovering from the March 11 catastrophe more quickly than anticipated and is expected to return to near normal by late June, they said.

The automaker will therefore withdraw its earlier plan set in April to gradually reduce the approximately 600 term employees at the plant in Saitama to zero by the end of September.

Honda will renew contracts of term employees if they want to do so, even for those whose employment contracts have already expired, they said.

Source;
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nb20110617a1.html

Is Honda Nuts? Its Japan-Only Fit Wagon Would be a U.S. Hit

By Jim Motavalli May 24, 2011

Honda’s management has just made half of a good decision. Taking a page from Toyota’s playbook, it is enlarging the “family” of the popular subcompact Fit hatchback. The new Fit Shuttle, to officially debut next March, stretches the 31-mpg combined base car into a minivan/wagon, which is basically what Toyota did with the larger Prius V. But Toyota is selling the hybrid V in the U.S. and so far Honda has no such plans for the Shuttle. Are they crazy? It’s a perfect car for the American market.

Outdated thinking?
Honda’s thinking on withholding the Shuttle is probably historical, but it’s also probably outdated. What you might call mini-minivans are huge hits in Honda’s domestic market and in Europe, but have often flopped in the U.S. The Kia Rondo, discontinued after the 2010 model year, comes to mind. But the Rondo — which touted three rows of seats in a mini wheelbase, was trying to do too many things at once. It started out strong with 28,000 sold in 2008, but sales fell to half that in 2009.

Kia’s sales drop also make sense when you realize that larger SUV sales rebounded in 2009 when the $4 gas of 2008 went away. The Rondo was cramped, especially that third row. But now gas is up again and the roomy, five-passenger Shuttle could slot nicely into Honda’s lineup, especially if more weight doesn’t hurt fuel economy too much. According to Jack Nerad, an executive analyst at Kelley Blue Book:

In the present climate, the Shuttle could do very well. But it will depend on whether high gas prices turn out to be an era, or just a blip. If it’s an era, then in all likelihood the car could sell in significant numbers.

Trying to track future gas prices is like grabbing o to an eel, but if I were in Honda’s management suites I wouldn’t be banking on a sustained return to $2.50 or $3 gas — though there could be some decline during the summer.

The number one seller in Japan
The Fit is a huge deal in Japan, where with the hybrid version (also not available here) it has been the number one seller for 20 months (having dethroned the hybrid Prius, and offering similar fuel economy). And it’s no slouch in the U.S., either — on the strength of high gas prices, April sales (8,116) of the subcompact were up 72.7 percent in the U.S. compared to the same month in 2010.

Another Fit would be a welcome addition to the American lineup. The base car has found a market because it offers a C-segment interior in a B-segment body, with 50.7 cubic feet of storage space if you tuck the back seat under the fronts (one of five possible configurations).

There’s a new website up for the Shuttle (in Japanese), but it doesn’t say much beyond that the new car will have “a roomy interior and ample luggage space.” Given the exterior photos, the revised interior layout probably adds a bit of both.

Too many hybrids
For Japan, Honda will also make a hybrid Shuttle, and there things get a bit trickier. As Nerad points out, Honda has struggled finding a coherent hybrid strategy. The Insight lacks distinctiveness compared to the much better-selling Prius. The perennial also-ran and somewhat bland Civic Hybrid has been completely redesigned for 2012 as part of a much-needed overhaul of the Civic family. So throwing the Shuttle into that mix might mean too many hybrid offerings for the company’s American dealers.

Honda isn’t talking about its Shuttle intentions. According to spokesman Chris Naughton:

We don’t discuss future product, but we’re always looking at our international markets to determine what might be a good fit for the U.S.

A good fit, Chris, is more Fits! But we are, in fact, getting the Fit EV, a 100-mile electric, in calendar year 2012. Details of that program are lacking, though a small number of cars are going into California test fleets at Google, Stanford University and the City of Torrance. Honda needs to get more high-profile with this program if it wants to ensure success. It should be talking to charging partners, discussing markets, and more. The company seems to be more enthused about its FCX Clarity fuel-cell car, which goes into production in 2015.

I wouldn’t suggest that Honda should be seeing a goldmine in either hybrid or electric Fits, but the Shuttle is a gas price-driven home run for American showrooms. Fuel economy + utility = hit in 2011.

Source;
http://www.bnet.com/blog/electric-cars/is-honda-nuts-its-japan-only-fit-wagon-would-be-a-us-hit/4281

Is Honda Nuts? Its Japan-Only Fit Wagon Would be a U.S. Hit

By Jim Motavalli May 24, 2011

Honda’s management has just made half of a good decision. Taking a page from Toyota’s playbook, it is enlarging the “family” of the popular subcompact Fit hatchback. The new Fit Shuttle, to officially debut next March, stretches the 31-mpg combined base car into a minivan/wagon, which is basically what Toyota did with the larger Prius V. But Toyota is selling the hybrid V in the U.S. and so far Honda has no such plans for the Shuttle. Are they crazy? It’s a perfect car for the American market.

Outdated thinking?
Honda’s thinking on withholding the Shuttle is probably historical, but it’s also probably outdated. What you might call mini-minivans are huge hits in Honda’s domestic market and in Europe, but have often flopped in the U.S. The Kia Rondo, discontinued after the 2010 model year, comes to mind. But the Rondo — which touted three rows of seats in a mini wheelbase, was trying to do too many things at once. It started out strong with 28,000 sold in 2008, but sales fell to half that in 2009.

Kia’s sales drop also make sense when you realize that larger SUV sales rebounded in 2009 when the $4 gas of 2008 went away. The Rondo was cramped, especially that third row. But now gas is up again and the roomy, five-passenger Shuttle could slot nicely into Honda’s lineup, especially if more weight doesn’t hurt fuel economy too much. According to Jack Nerad, an executive analyst at Kelley Blue Book:

In the present climate, the Shuttle could do very well. But it will depend on whether high gas prices turn out to be an era, or just a blip. If it’s an era, then in all likelihood the car could sell in significant numbers.

Trying to track future gas prices is like grabbing o to an eel, but if I were in Honda’s management suites I wouldn’t be banking on a sustained return to $2.50 or $3 gas — though there could be some decline during the summer.

The number one seller in Japan
The Fit is a huge deal in Japan, where with the hybrid version (also not available here) it has been the number one seller for 20 months (having dethroned the hybrid Prius, and offering similar fuel economy). And it’s no slouch in the U.S., either — on the strength of high gas prices, April sales (8,116) of the subcompact were up 72.7 percent in the U.S. compared to the same month in 2010.

Another Fit would be a welcome addition to the American lineup. The base car has found a market because it offers a C-segment interior in a B-segment body, with 50.7 cubic feet of storage space if you tuck the back seat under the fronts (one of five possible configurations).

There’s a new website up for the Shuttle (in Japanese), but it doesn’t say much beyond that the new car will have “a roomy interior and ample luggage space.” Given the exterior photos, the revised interior layout probably adds a bit of both.

Too many hybrids
For Japan, Honda will also make a hybrid Shuttle, and there things get a bit trickier. As Nerad points out, Honda has struggled finding a coherent hybrid strategy. The Insight lacks distinctiveness compared to the much better-selling Prius. The perennial also-ran and somewhat bland Civic Hybrid has been completely redesigned for 2012 as part of a much-needed overhaul of the Civic family. So throwing the Shuttle into that mix might mean too many hybrid offerings for the company’s American dealers.

Honda isn’t talking about its Shuttle intentions. According to spokesman Chris Naughton:

We don’t discuss future product, but we’re always looking at our international markets to determine what might be a good fit for the U.S.

A good fit, Chris, is more Fits! But we are, in fact, getting the Fit EV, a 100-mile electric, in calendar year 2012. Details of that program are lacking, though a small number of cars are going into California test fleets at Google, Stanford University and the City of Torrance. Honda needs to get more high-profile with this program if it wants to ensure success. It should be talking to charging partners, discussing markets, and more. The company seems to be more enthused about its FCX Clarity fuel-cell car, which goes into production in 2015.

I wouldn’t suggest that Honda should be seeing a goldmine in either hybrid or electric Fits, but the Shuttle is a gas price-driven home run for American showrooms. Fuel economy + utility = hit in 2011.

Source;
http://www.bnet.com/blog/electric-cars/is-honda-nuts-its-japan-only-fit-wagon-would-be-a-us-hit/4281

Honda puts Honda FIT Shuttle intro on hold

Not for the North American market....
The devastating earthquake and its aftermath in Japan have forced Honda to postpone the market launch of its new Fit Shuttle. The introduction of the car in Japan was scheduled to take place this month. Honda said it has not yet decided on a new release date and that the company will follow up with an announcement with more details soon.

The new Fit Shuttle is approximately 510mm longer than the hatchback, which is also known as the Jazz in Europe and other international markets. In Japan, it will be offered with a similar engine lineup to the hatchback model including a conventional 1.5-liter four-cylinder gasoline engine and a hybrid variant featuring a 1.3-liter gasoline unit and a 10 KW electric motor.

Suggested retail prices in Japan will start from 1.61 million Yen (about US$13,900) for the gasoline engine only model and from 1.81 million Yen (US$15,800) for the hybrid variant.

Source;

http://carscoop.blogspot.com/2011/03/honda-postpones-launch-of-fit-shuttle.html

Honda puts Honda FIT Shuttle intro on hold

Not for the North American market....
The devastating earthquake and its aftermath in Japan have forced Honda to postpone the market launch of its new Fit Shuttle. The introduction of the car in Japan was scheduled to take place this month. Honda said it has not yet decided on a new release date and that the company will follow up with an announcement with more details soon.

The new Fit Shuttle is approximately 510mm longer than the hatchback, which is also known as the Jazz in Europe and other international markets. In Japan, it will be offered with a similar engine lineup to the hatchback model including a conventional 1.5-liter four-cylinder gasoline engine and a hybrid variant featuring a 1.3-liter gasoline unit and a 10 KW electric motor.

Suggested retail prices in Japan will start from 1.61 million Yen (about US$13,900) for the gasoline engine only model and from 1.81 million Yen (US$15,800) for the hybrid variant.

Source;

http://carscoop.blogspot.com/2011/03/honda-postpones-launch-of-fit-shuttle.html