Birchwood Honda West Blog

TORONTO (January 8, 2009) – Honda Canada Inc. received top honours from ALG as the winner of the “Mainstream Brand Residual Value Award” as part of ALG’s Canadian Residual Value Awards that honour vehicles that are predicted to retain the highest percentage of their original price after a conventional retail lease.

Honda was ranked the best overall brand out of 19 mainstream automotive brands in Canada. Acura, the luxury division of Honda Canada Inc., received a second-place award in the Luxury Brand Residual Value category, placing ahead of 11 other luxury brand competitors.The awards are based on 2009 model year vehicles. The awards are derived after carefully studying segment competition, historical vehicle performance and industry trends, and are based on analysis using only Canada-specific data. ALG, based in Santa Barbara, California, provides data and consulting services to the automotive industry and publishes the “Automotive Lease Guide” in both Canada and the U.S.

In addition to winning the overall Mainstream Brand Residual Value Award, Honda Canada also received individual segment awards for the Honda Odyssey (Minivan segment); the new Honda Fit (Entry Compact Car); and the Honda Ridgeline (Compact/Midsize Pickup Truck).

“We are very excited to announce the inaugural Canadian Residual Value Awards,” said John Blair, Chief Executive Officer of ALG. “Honda clearly set itself apart by winning the overall Mainstream award and three segment awards. Honda benefits from its disciplined production, consistent high quality and value pricing, and its shift to more fuel-efficient vehicles has also helped the brand.

“We firmly believe that Residual Value is the best metric for evaluating the overall strength of an automotive brand, and congratulate all of the winners for their successful products and marketing strategies.”

Honda Canada manufactures the Honda Civic sedan and coupe, and the Acura CSX sedan and MDX luxury utility vehicle at its two plants in Alliston, Ontario, and produces fuel-efficient 4-cylinder engines at its new engine plant adjacent to its Canadian manufacturing facilities. With 135 manufacturing facilities in 28 countries worldwide, Honda attracts more than 24 million customers annually.

http://www.honda.ca/default#

Redesigned model more fuel efficient

By: Myron Love

Updated: June 20 at 10:14 AM CDT

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/subscriber/autos/articles/general/story/4189061p-4779556c.html

Honda’s redesigned-for-2009 Pilot — which went on sale in Winnipeg about 10 days ago — is both bigger than its predecessor and more fuel efficient without costing any more.

“It is unusual for Honda to be launching a new model in June,” says Birchwood Honda on Regent sales rep Robert Swan, “but it is certainly time for a new Pilot. The first generation model was getting a little long in the tooth.”

The new Pilot comes with a 3.5 litre, 24-valve SOHC, I-VTEC V6 engine, 250 hp and 253 lb-ft of torque — both simply higher output than its predecessor.

The greater fuel efficiency is the result of the ‘09 Pilot’s advanced Variable Cylinder Management system. VCM operates on three, four or six cylinders depending whether you are driving in the city, on the highway or accelerating. The new Pilot’s Variable Torque Management four-wheel drive system anticipates the need for AWD and automatically engages the rear wheels whenever the vehicle is accelerating.

Swan points out that the ‘09 Pilot is available in a couple of new trims including the top of the line “Touring” model which has additional features such as a power tailgate, heated second row leather seats, 115-volt power outlet, front and rear parking sensors, HandsFreeLink Bluetooth wireless telephone interface and Honda satellite-linked navigation system with rearview camera.

All the new Pilot configurations have heavy duty power steering and transmission cooler and an integrated trailer hitch, features that were options on the earlier Pilot, Swan notes. The ‘09 Pilot is also the fifth Honda model that incorporates Advanced Compatibility Engineering in its structure, Swan adds. All Honda models will soon be built with ACE.

The ‘09 Pilot seats eight, although Swan points out that the third-row seating is meant mainly for children, as with all other competitors vehicles in its class. “Previous Pilot owners who have tried the new model say that its is roomier than its predecessor,” he says.

The base price for the 2wd, entry-level LX model is $36,820 (plus freight and PDI), about the same price its predecessor sold for.