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      <title>U.S. R&amp;D: Honda R&amp;D Creating New Value In The U.S.</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;Honda R&amp;D Americas, Inc. (HRA) is responsible for creating advanced products and technologies that provide new value to Honda and Acura customers. Established in Southern California as Honda Research California in 1975 to conduct local market research and design, HRA today has the capability of "complete product creation" - developing all-new vehicles starting from market and technology research and design-styling through engineering design, prototype fabrication and testing, local parts procurement, and support for mass production preparation. With major facilities in California, Ohio, North Carolina and Florida, HRA is engaged in the development and testing of Honda and Acura automobiles, and Honda power sports and power equipment products, and is also taking a leading role in the advancement of leading-edge safety and environmental technologies. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;u&gt;Product Research &amp; Development &lt;/u&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt; From market and technology research to styling, engineering design, fabrication and testing to local parts procurement, Honda R&amp;D Americas is helping create new value for Honda customers through innovation in the development of new Honda and Acura products. &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;ul&gt;
    &lt;li&gt; One third (6 of 18) model-year 2012 Honda and Acura models sold in America - including five of seven light truck models - were researched, designed and developed by Honda R&amp;D Americas. These include innovative and trend-setting products such as the 7-passenger Acura MDX, TL sedan and ZDX crossover, as well as the Honda Pilot SUV, Odyssey minivan and Ridgeline truck.&lt;/li&gt;
    &lt;li&gt; The latest example of Honda's ability to develop products and technologies from scratch in America is the 2011 Honda Odyssey minivan, the first U.S.-designed and developed Honda minivan and the highest sales volume model to be developed locally.&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;u&gt;Product Styling Design &lt;/u&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Honda R&amp;D Americas' Los Angeles Center and three California-based design studios are responsible for market research, concept development and styling for Honda and Acura products.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;ul&gt;
    &lt;li&gt;The Honda Design Studio (part of the Los Angeles Center) is responsible for the market research, concept development and styling design of Honda-brand automobiles, light trucks, and motorcycles.&lt;/li&gt;
    &lt;li&gt;The Acura Design Studio in Torrance is responsible for the market research, concept development and styling design of Acura automobiles and light trucks.&lt;/li&gt;
    &lt;li&gt;The Advanced Design Studio in Pasadena is responsible for creating future design concepts for Honda and Acura products and works closely with leading design schools. The studio developed the FC Sport fuel cell electric vehicle concept (2008) and the P-NUT urban commuter concept (2009) - each showcased at the Los Angeles Auto Show.&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;u&gt;Environmental Technology Development &lt;/u&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;ul&gt;
    &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In addition to its work on new vehicle design and development, Honda R&amp;D Americas is engaged in programs to advance alternative-fuel technologies, including natural gas and hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles.&lt;/strong&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Honda has developed a new wind tunnel in Ohio that will play an important role in realizing further improvements to the aerodynamic efficiency of new vehicles, enhancing Honda's global R&amp;D capabilities and contributing to Honda's focus on fuel efficiency leadership.&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Supporting the development and deployment of the advanced alternative-fuel vehicles such as the &lt;a href="http://www.hondanews.com/categories/865"&gt;FCX Clarity&lt;/a&gt; hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicle.&lt;/li&gt;
        &lt;li&gt; Development and operation of a prototype &lt;a href="http://www.hondanews.com/categories/865/releases/5366"&gt;Honda Solar Hydrogen Station&lt;/a&gt; utilizing Honda-developed thin-film solar cells. HRA began operating a next-generation system at its Torrance, California, headquarters in January 2010. The new system is able to provide hydrogen for daily commuting in a fuel cell vehicle (10,000 miles per year) via an 8-hour overnight fill without the need for a compressor, thereby reducing system cost, complexity and size.&lt;/li&gt;
        &lt;li&gt;Support of &lt;a href="http://www.hondanews.com/channels/corporate/releases/93119e77-be1e-45c2-9c6c-e2df0043e517?query=Fit+EV"&gt;Honda's Electric Vehicle Demonstration&lt;/a&gt; program involving the advanced market deployment of the Honda Fit EV electric vehicle and Honda's dual motor plug-in hybrid electric vehicle technology with program partners the City of Torrance (California), Stanford University and Google.&lt;/li&gt;
        &lt;li&gt;Collaborative research of the Civic Natural Gas vehicle's environmental benefits and customer usage, to support the sales and marketing of natural gas-powered vehicles and the expansion of refueling infrastructure to help support retail vehicle sales.&lt;/li&gt;
      &lt;/ul&gt;
    &lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;u&gt;Safety Technology Research and Development &lt;/u&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;ul&gt;
    &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt; Honda R&amp;D Americas is also making significant contributions to Honda's safety leadership.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
    &lt;ul&gt;
      &lt;li&gt; The HRA Ohio Center includes an Automotive Safety Research Facility that houses one of the world's highest resolution crash test barriers and the world's first pitching crash test simulation sled. This facility is responsible for the development and testing of nearly all safety systems on Honda's U.S.-developed vehicles.&lt;/li&gt;
      &lt;li&gt;The U.S.-developed 2001 Honda Civic Coupe was one of the first two vehicles in the industry (along with the Volvo S80) to earn a 5-star crash safety rating from the NHTSA.
        &lt;ul&gt;
          &lt;li&gt;The U.S.-developed 2011 Honda Odyssey first minivan to earn both a 5-star Overall Vehicle Score under the federal government's newly modified New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) and a "Top Safety Pick" rating from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).&lt;/li&gt;
        &lt;/ul&gt;
      &lt;/li&gt;
    &lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;u&gt;Major North American R&amp;D Facilities &lt;/u&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;
  &lt;strong&gt;Honda operates 14 major R&amp;D facilities in North America. Among them: &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  
&lt;table width="100%" border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1"&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td width="36%" rowspan="4" valign="middle"&gt;Los Angeles Center 
      Torrance, Calif. (1975)&lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td width="64%" valign="top"&gt;Automobile and motorcycle market research and concept development&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Honda Design Studio&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;strong&gt;--&lt;/strong&gt; Torrance, Calif. (1975)&lt;br /&gt;
    Market research, concept development, and styling design for Honda automobiles.&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Acura Design Studio --&lt;/strong&gt; Torrance, Calif. (2007)&lt;br /&gt;
    Market research, concept development, and styling design for Acura automobiles.&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Advanced Design Studio --&lt;/strong&gt; Pasadena, Calif. (2006)&lt;br /&gt;
    Advanced concept development for next-generation Honda and Acura products.&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;Ohio Center&lt;br /&gt;
    Raymond, Ohio (1985) &lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td valign="middle"&gt;&lt;p&gt;Automobile and Motorcycle research and development;&lt;br /&gt;
    and Automotive Safety Research Facility&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;North Carolina Center&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
    Haw River, NC (1993) &lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td valign="middle"&gt;Power Equipment product research,   development and testing. &lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Marine Engine Research Facility&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
    Grant-Valkaria, Fla. (2008) &lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td valign="middle"&gt;Marine engine research and testing. &lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;

 
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Honda R&amp;D Americas, Inc. - Vehicle Development History&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Honda R&amp;D Americas is responsible for 24 Honda and Acura new-model developments:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;table width="100%" border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1"&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td width="38%" valign="top"&gt;2011 Honda Odyssey&lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td width="62%" valign="top"&gt;The fourth generation Honda minivan and the highest sales volume model to be designed and developed in North America. It is the first minivan to be awarded a 5-star rating Overall Vehicle Score and a "Top Safety Pick" rating under the NHTSA's and IIHS' recently revised crash safety ratings protocols.&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;2010 Acura ZDX &lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;An all-new Acura vehicle concept - a 4-door coupe with SUV versatility and sports car-like dynamic performance&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;2009 Acura TL &lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;Third generation of U.S. development for Acura's top-selling luxury sedan&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;2009 Honda Pilot &lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;Second generation of U.S. development for Honda's award-winning, mid-size, eight passenger Honda SUV&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;2007 Acura MDX &lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;Second generation of U.S. development for MDX, including the application of advanced new chassis and electrical system technologies researched and developed by HRA&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;2006 Civic Coupe 
      and Civic Si &lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;Sporty 2-door coupe and high-performance Si versions of 8th generation Civic - 2006 North American, Canadian, and Motor Trend, Car of the Year&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;2006 Accord Sedan and Coupe &lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;Mid-model refresh of 2003 Accord. First time HRA is responsible for global launch of new model including coordination of production launch in eight plants worldwide&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;2006 Honda Ridgeline &lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;Honda's first-ever (in the US), and highly innovative pickup truck - 2006 Motor Trend, North American, and Canadian, Truck of the Year&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;2004 Acura TL &lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;Second-generation of the TL developed by HRA, and America's best selling luxury sedan in 2004, 2005 and 2006&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;2003 Honda Element &lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;Innovative SUV with flat cargo floor, washable interior surfaces and B-pillar-less, wide-opening side doors&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;2003 Honda Pilot &lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;First eight-passenger crossover vehicle and five-time winner of Car and Driver magazine's "5Best Truck" award&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;2002 Acura TL &lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;Introduction of high-performance TL "Type-S" model&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;2001 Civic Coupe &lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;First small car and first coupe to earn NHTSA five-star safety rating in frontal and side impact (NCAP) crash test ratings&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;2001 Acura MDX &lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;First luxury SUV with standard 3rd-row seating and 2001 Motor Trend SUV of the Year and North American Truck of the Year&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;2001 Acura 3.2CL&lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;HRA's third all-new Acura model and first to apply new 6-speed manual transmission for V6 engines&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;1999 Acura 3.2TL&lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;Second all-new Acura model developed by HRA&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;1998 Accord Coupe&lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;First Accord Coupe with exclusive exterior styling&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;1997 Acura 1.6EL&lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;New Acura model developed exclusively for Canadian market.&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;1997 Acura CL 3.0 (Coupe)&lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;First Honda or Acura vehicle to receive all-new, high-output V6 engine&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;1997 Acura CL 2.2 (Coupe)&lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;First U.S.-developed Acura, first all-new vehicle development by HRA, and the first development led by an American engineer&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;1994 Accord Wagon&lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;First HRA "derivative model" developed simultaneously with its base car, the 1994 Accord Sedan&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;1993 Civic Coupe&lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;First Civic Coupe - a "derivative" model based on the 1992 Civic hatchback.&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;1991 Accord Wagon&lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;First HRA developed "derivative model". Based on the 1990 Accord Sedan for North America and exported to Japan and Europe&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;1989 Honda Accord SEi&lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;First American-led U.S. SED developed model, coordinating U.S. Sales, and Manufacturing and R&amp;D&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;</description>
      <category>U.S. R&amp;D</category>
      <pubDate>Mon, 12 Sep 2011 11:47:00 -0700</pubDate>
      <guid>http://hondanews.com/releases/4151f5fc-73a5-6c8f-e204-9f004c34be8c</guid>
      <link>http://hondanews.com/releases/4151f5fc-73a5-6c8f-e204-9f004c34be8c</link>
      <media:title>Honda R&amp;D Creating New Value In The U.S.</media:title>
      <media:description type="html">&lt;p&gt;Honda R&amp;D Americas, Inc. (HRA) is responsible for creating advanced products and technologies that provide new value to Honda and Acura customers. Established in Southern California as Honda Research California in 1975 to conduct local market research and design, HRA today has the capability of "complete product creation" - developing all-new vehicles starting from market and technology research and design-styling through engineering design, prototype fabrication and testing, local parts procurement, and support for mass production preparation. With major facilities in California, Ohio, North Carolina and Florida, HRA is engaged in the development and testing of Honda and Acura automobiles, and Honda power sports and power equipment products, and is also taking a leading role in the advancement of leading-edge safety and environmental technologies. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;u&gt;Product Research &amp; Development &lt;/u&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt; From market and technology research to styling, engineering design, fabrication and testing to local parts procurement, Honda R&amp;D Americas is helping create new value for Honda customers through innovation in the development of new Honda and Acura products. &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;ul&gt;
    &lt;li&gt; One third (6 of 18) model-year 2012 Honda and Acura models sold in America - including five of seven light truck models - were researched, designed and developed by Honda R&amp;D Americas. These include innovative and trend-setting products such as the 7-passenger Acura MDX, TL sedan and ZDX crossover, as well as the Honda Pilot SUV, Odyssey minivan and Ridgeline truck.&lt;/li&gt;
    &lt;li&gt; The latest example of Honda's ability to develop products and technologies from scratch in America is the 2011 Honda Odyssey minivan, the first U.S.-designed and developed Honda minivan and the highest sales volume model to be developed locally.&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;u&gt;Product Styling Design &lt;/u&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Honda R&amp;D Americas' Los Angeles Center and three California-based design studios are responsible for market research, concept development and styling for Honda and Acura products.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;ul&gt;
    &lt;li&gt;The Honda Design Studio (part of the Los Angeles Center) is responsible for the market research, concept development and styling design of Honda-brand automobiles, light trucks, and motorcycles.&lt;/li&gt;
    &lt;li&gt;The Acura Design Studio in Torrance is responsible for the market research, concept development and styling design of Acura automobiles and light trucks.&lt;/li&gt;
    &lt;li&gt;The Advanced Design Studio in Pasadena is responsible for creating future design concepts for Honda and Acura products and works closely with leading design schools. The studio developed the FC Sport fuel cell electric vehicle concept (2008) and the P-NUT urban commuter concept (2009) - each showcased at the Los Angeles Auto Show.&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;u&gt;Environmental Technology Development &lt;/u&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;ul&gt;
    &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In addition to its work on new vehicle design and development, Honda R&amp;D Americas is engaged in programs to advance alternative-fuel technologies, including natural gas and hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles.&lt;/strong&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Honda has developed a new wind tunnel in Ohio that will play an important role in realizing further improvements to the aerodynamic efficiency of new vehicles, enhancing Honda's global R&amp;D capabilities and contributing to Honda's focus on fuel efficiency leadership.&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Supporting the development and deployment of the advanced alternative-fuel vehicles such as the &lt;a href="http://www.hondanews.com/categories/865"&gt;FCX Clarity&lt;/a&gt; hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicle.&lt;/li&gt;
        &lt;li&gt; Development and operation of a prototype &lt;a href="http://www.hondanews.com/categories/865/releases/5366"&gt;Honda Solar Hydrogen Station&lt;/a&gt; utilizing Honda-developed thin-film solar cells. HRA began operating a next-generation system at its Torrance, California, headquarters in January 2010. The new system is able to provide hydrogen for daily commuting in a fuel cell vehicle (10,000 miles per year) via an 8-hour overnight fill without the need for a compressor, thereby reducing system cost, complexity and size.&lt;/li&gt;
        &lt;li&gt;Support of &lt;a href="http://www.hondanews.com/channels/corporate/releases/93119e77-be1e-45c2-9c6c-e2df0043e517?query=Fit+EV"&gt;Honda's Electric Vehicle Demonstration&lt;/a&gt; program involving the advanced market deployment of the Honda Fit EV electric vehicle and Honda's dual motor plug-in hybrid electric vehicle technology with program partners the City of Torrance (California), Stanford University and Google.&lt;/li&gt;
        &lt;li&gt;Collaborative research of the Civic Natural Gas vehicle's environmental benefits and customer usage, to support the sales and marketing of natural gas-powered vehicles and the expansion of refueling infrastructure to help support retail vehicle sales.&lt;/li&gt;
      &lt;/ul&gt;
    &lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;u&gt;Safety Technology Research and Development &lt;/u&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;ul&gt;
    &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt; Honda R&amp;D Americas is also making significant contributions to Honda's safety leadership.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
    &lt;ul&gt;
      &lt;li&gt; The HRA Ohio Center includes an Automotive Safety Research Facility that houses one of the world's highest resolution crash test barriers and the world's first pitching crash test simulation sled. This facility is responsible for the development and testing of nearly all safety systems on Honda's U.S.-developed vehicles.&lt;/li&gt;
      &lt;li&gt;The U.S.-developed 2001 Honda Civic Coupe was one of the first two vehicles in the industry (along with the Volvo S80) to earn a 5-star crash safety rating from the NHTSA.
        &lt;ul&gt;
          &lt;li&gt;The U.S.-developed 2011 Honda Odyssey first minivan to earn both a 5-star Overall Vehicle Score under the federal government's newly modified New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) and a "Top Safety Pick" rating from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).&lt;/li&gt;
        &lt;/ul&gt;
      &lt;/li&gt;
    &lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;u&gt;Major North American R&amp;D Facilities &lt;/u&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;
  &lt;strong&gt;Honda operates 14 major R&amp;D facilities in North America. Among them: &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  
&lt;table width="100%" border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1"&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td width="36%" rowspan="4" valign="middle"&gt;Los Angeles Center 
      Torrance, Calif. (1975)&lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td width="64%" valign="top"&gt;Automobile and motorcycle market research and concept development&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Honda Design Studio&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;strong&gt;--&lt;/strong&gt; Torrance, Calif. (1975)&lt;br /&gt;
    Market research, concept development, and styling design for Honda automobiles.&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Acura Design Studio --&lt;/strong&gt; Torrance, Calif. (2007)&lt;br /&gt;
    Market research, concept development, and styling design for Acura automobiles.&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Advanced Design Studio --&lt;/strong&gt; Pasadena, Calif. (2006)&lt;br /&gt;
    Advanced concept development for next-generation Honda and Acura products.&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;Ohio Center&lt;br /&gt;
    Raymond, Ohio (1985) &lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td valign="middle"&gt;&lt;p&gt;Automobile and Motorcycle research and development;&lt;br /&gt;
    and Automotive Safety Research Facility&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;North Carolina Center&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
    Haw River, NC (1993) &lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td valign="middle"&gt;Power Equipment product research,   development and testing. &lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Marine Engine Research Facility&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
    Grant-Valkaria, Fla. (2008) &lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td valign="middle"&gt;Marine engine research and testing. &lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;

 
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Honda R&amp;D Americas, Inc. - Vehicle Development History&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Honda R&amp;D Americas is responsible for 24 Honda and Acura new-model developments:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;table width="100%" border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1"&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td width="38%" valign="top"&gt;2011 Honda Odyssey&lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td width="62%" valign="top"&gt;The fourth generation Honda minivan and the highest sales volume model to be designed and developed in North America. It is the first minivan to be awarded a 5-star rating Overall Vehicle Score and a "Top Safety Pick" rating under the NHTSA's and IIHS' recently revised crash safety ratings protocols.&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;2010 Acura ZDX &lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;An all-new Acura vehicle concept - a 4-door coupe with SUV versatility and sports car-like dynamic performance&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;2009 Acura TL &lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;Third generation of U.S. development for Acura's top-selling luxury sedan&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;2009 Honda Pilot &lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;Second generation of U.S. development for Honda's award-winning, mid-size, eight passenger Honda SUV&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;2007 Acura MDX &lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;Second generation of U.S. development for MDX, including the application of advanced new chassis and electrical system technologies researched and developed by HRA&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;2006 Civic Coupe 
      and Civic Si &lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;Sporty 2-door coupe and high-performance Si versions of 8th generation Civic - 2006 North American, Canadian, and Motor Trend, Car of the Year&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;2006 Accord Sedan and Coupe &lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;Mid-model refresh of 2003 Accord. First time HRA is responsible for global launch of new model including coordination of production launch in eight plants worldwide&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;2006 Honda Ridgeline &lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;Honda's first-ever (in the US), and highly innovative pickup truck - 2006 Motor Trend, North American, and Canadian, Truck of the Year&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;2004 Acura TL &lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;Second-generation of the TL developed by HRA, and America's best selling luxury sedan in 2004, 2005 and 2006&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;2003 Honda Element &lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;Innovative SUV with flat cargo floor, washable interior surfaces and B-pillar-less, wide-opening side doors&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;2003 Honda Pilot &lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;First eight-passenger crossover vehicle and five-time winner of Car and Driver magazine's "5Best Truck" award&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;2002 Acura TL &lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;Introduction of high-performance TL "Type-S" model&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;2001 Civic Coupe &lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;First small car and first coupe to earn NHTSA five-star safety rating in frontal and side impact (NCAP) crash test ratings&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;2001 Acura MDX &lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;First luxury SUV with standard 3rd-row seating and 2001 Motor Trend SUV of the Year and North American Truck of the Year&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;2001 Acura 3.2CL&lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;HRA's third all-new Acura model and first to apply new 6-speed manual transmission for V6 engines&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;1999 Acura 3.2TL&lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;Second all-new Acura model developed by HRA&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;1998 Accord Coupe&lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;First Accord Coupe with exclusive exterior styling&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;1997 Acura 1.6EL&lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;New Acura model developed exclusively for Canadian market.&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;1997 Acura CL 3.0 (Coupe)&lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;First Honda or Acura vehicle to receive all-new, high-output V6 engine&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;1997 Acura CL 2.2 (Coupe)&lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;First U.S.-developed Acura, first all-new vehicle development by HRA, and the first development led by an American engineer&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;1994 Accord Wagon&lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;First HRA "derivative model" developed simultaneously with its base car, the 1994 Accord Sedan&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;1993 Civic Coupe&lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;First Civic Coupe - a "derivative" model based on the 1992 Civic hatchback.&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;1991 Accord Wagon&lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;First HRA developed "derivative model". Based on the 1990 Accord Sedan for North America and exported to Japan and Europe&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;1989 Honda Accord SEi&lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td valign="top"&gt;First American-led U.S. SED developed model, coordinating U.S. Sales, and Manufacturing and R&amp;D&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;</media:description>
      <media:content type="application/pdf" url="http://hondanews.com/releases/4151f5fc-73a5-6c8f-e204-9f004c34be8c:en-US/download/312f0243-20cb-4cf3-b332-a5ec33461338" lang="en-US" medium="document" fileSize="44335"/>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>U.S. R&amp;D: Honda 2011 Digital FactBook</title>
      <description>      &lt;img src="http://cdn.hondanews.com/photos/4f12/6951/4f126951-18b3-48fc-81ed-3a7cf0e6d5c2-100x100-thumb.jpg" /&gt; &lt;br/&gt;
      Honda 2011 Digital FactBook
</description>
      <category>U.S. R&amp;D</category>
      <pubDate>Thu, 21 Jul 2011 15:34:00 -0700</pubDate>
      <guid>http://hondanews.com/photos/honda-2011-digital-factbook</guid>
      <link>http://hondanews.com/photos/honda-2011-digital-factbook</link>
      <media:group>
        <media:title>Honda 2011 Digital FactBook</media:title>
        <media:description>      &lt;img src="http://cdn.hondanews.com/photos/4f12/6951/4f126951-18b3-48fc-81ed-3a7cf0e6d5c2-100x100-thumb.jpg" /&gt; &lt;br/&gt;
      Honda 2011 Digital FactBook
</media:description>
        <media:thumbnail width="100" url="http://cdn.hondanews.com/photos/4f12/6951/4f126951-18b3-48fc-81ed-3a7cf0e6d5c2-100x100-thumb.jpg" height="100"/>
        <media:content type="image/jpeg" width="1280" url="http://hondanews.com/photos/4f126951-18b3-48fc-81ed-3a7cf0e6d5c2/download.JPG" lang="en-US" medium="image" fileSize="80691" height="1024"/>
        <media:content type="image/jpeg" width="1200" url="http://hondanews.com/photos/4f12/6951/4f126951-18b3-48fc-81ed-3a7cf0e6d5c2-en-US-1200x1200.JPG" lang="en-US" medium="image" expression="sample" fileSize="245624" height="1200"/>
      </media:group>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>U.S. R&amp;D: Honda 2011 Digital FactBook</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;The 2011 Digital FactBook is an annual report which provides an overview of Honda's global operations, as well as detailed historical and up-to-date information concerning Honda's sales, manufacturing and R&amp;D operations in North America. This report includes a general chronology which highlights the significant milestones in Honda's corporate history.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;  The 2011 Digital FactBook includes the following:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul type="disc"&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Corporate directory of key      locations and contacts by region&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Overview of worldwide operations,      sales network and 2010 production&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Overview of North America      (N.A.) operations and subsidiaries&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;History of Honda/Acura      vehicle introductions in the U.S., Honda/Acura vehicle and industry sales      data for N.A.&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;List of N.A. manufacturing      facilities and information on automobile, motorcycle and ATV/PWC      production&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Summary of N.A.      R&amp;D/Engineering facilities&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Summary of exports of N.A.      made Honda products&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Overview of South America      operations, subsidiaries, manufacturing facilities and R&amp;D centers&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Overview of Europe/Middle      East/Africa operations, subsidiaries and manufacturing facilities&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Overview of Japan operations,      subsidiaries, R&amp;D centers and manufacturing facilities&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Overview of Asia/Oceania      operations, subsidiaries and manufacturing facilities&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Overview of China operations,      subsidiaries and manufacturing facilities&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Chronology of corporate      milestones&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;</description>
      <category>U.S. R&amp;D</category>
      <pubDate>Thu, 21 Jul 2011 15:33:00 -0700</pubDate>
      <guid>http://hondanews.com/releases/8dcf3b39-452d-8b44-d6fb-e1004c34baff</guid>
      <link>http://hondanews.com/releases/8dcf3b39-452d-8b44-d6fb-e1004c34baff</link>
      <media:title>Honda 2011 Digital FactBook</media:title>
      <media:description type="html">&lt;p&gt;The 2011 Digital FactBook is an annual report which provides an overview of Honda's global operations, as well as detailed historical and up-to-date information concerning Honda's sales, manufacturing and R&amp;D operations in North America. This report includes a general chronology which highlights the significant milestones in Honda's corporate history.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;  The 2011 Digital FactBook includes the following:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul type="disc"&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Corporate directory of key      locations and contacts by region&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Overview of worldwide operations,      sales network and 2010 production&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Overview of North America      (N.A.) operations and subsidiaries&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;History of Honda/Acura      vehicle introductions in the U.S., Honda/Acura vehicle and industry sales      data for N.A.&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;List of N.A. manufacturing      facilities and information on automobile, motorcycle and ATV/PWC      production&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Summary of N.A.      R&amp;D/Engineering facilities&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Summary of exports of N.A.      made Honda products&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Overview of South America      operations, subsidiaries, manufacturing facilities and R&amp;D centers&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Overview of Europe/Middle      East/Africa operations, subsidiaries and manufacturing facilities&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Overview of Japan operations,      subsidiaries, R&amp;D centers and manufacturing facilities&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Overview of Asia/Oceania      operations, subsidiaries and manufacturing facilities&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Overview of China operations,      subsidiaries and manufacturing facilities&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Chronology of corporate      milestones&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;</media:description>
      <media:content type="application/pdf" url="http://hondanews.com/releases/8dcf3b39-452d-8b44-d6fb-e1004c34baff:en-US/download/56a9cbdc-3874-4179-a528-8ed479e7b138" lang="en-US" medium="document" fileSize="4714932"/>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>U.S. R&amp;D: Honda iDream Student Challenge at The Ohio State University</title>
      <description>      &lt;img src="http://cdn.hondanews.com/photos/6bd5/ab4c/6bd5ab4c-b9fe-d4ac-a33a-07004c476a7d-100x100-thumb.jpg" /&gt; &lt;br/&gt;
      Honda iDream Student Challenge at The Ohio State University
</description>
      <category>U.S. R&amp;D</category>
      <pubDate>Thu, 08 Jul 2010 15:43:55 -0700</pubDate>
      <guid>http://hondanews.com/photos/honda-idream-student-challenge-at-the-ohio-state-university</guid>
      <link>http://hondanews.com/photos/honda-idream-student-challenge-at-the-ohio-state-university</link>
      <media:group>
        <media:title>Honda iDream Student Challenge at The Ohio State University</media:title>
        <media:description>      &lt;img src="http://cdn.hondanews.com/photos/6bd5/ab4c/6bd5ab4c-b9fe-d4ac-a33a-07004c476a7d-100x100-thumb.jpg" /&gt; &lt;br/&gt;
      Honda iDream Student Challenge at The Ohio State University
</media:description>
        <media:thumbnail width="100" url="http://cdn.hondanews.com/photos/6bd5/ab4c/6bd5ab4c-b9fe-d4ac-a33a-07004c476a7d-100x100-thumb.jpg" height="100"/>
        <media:content type="image/jpeg" width="2000" url="http://hondanews.com/photos/6bd5ab4c-b9fe-d4ac-a33a-07004c476a7d/download.jpg" lang="en-US" medium="image" fileSize="2485068" height="2728"/>
        <media:content type="image/jpeg" width="1200" url="http://hondanews.com/photos/6bd5/ab4c/6bd5ab4c-b9fe-d4ac-a33a-07004c476a7d-en-US-1200x1200.jpg" lang="en-US" medium="image" expression="sample" fileSize="1273891" height="1200"/>
      </media:group>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>U.S. R&amp;D: Honda iDream Student Challenge at The Ohio State University</title>
      <description>      &lt;img src="http://cdn.hondanews.com/photos/76a4/a8aa/76a4a8aa-a8ac-bc08-e37b-05004c476a7c-100x100-thumb.jpg" /&gt; &lt;br/&gt;
      Honda iDream Student Challenge at The Ohio State University
</description>
      <category>U.S. R&amp;D</category>
      <pubDate>Thu, 08 Jul 2010 15:43:55 -0700</pubDate>
      <guid>http://hondanews.com/photos/honda-idream-student-challenge-at-the-ohio-state-university-2</guid>
      <link>http://hondanews.com/photos/honda-idream-student-challenge-at-the-ohio-state-university-2</link>
      <media:group>
        <media:title>Honda iDream Student Challenge at The Ohio State University</media:title>
        <media:description>      &lt;img src="http://cdn.hondanews.com/photos/76a4/a8aa/76a4a8aa-a8ac-bc08-e37b-05004c476a7c-100x100-thumb.jpg" /&gt; &lt;br/&gt;
      Honda iDream Student Challenge at The Ohio State University
</media:description>
        <media:thumbnail width="100" url="http://cdn.hondanews.com/photos/76a4/a8aa/76a4a8aa-a8ac-bc08-e37b-05004c476a7c-100x100-thumb.jpg" height="100"/>
        <media:content type="image/jpeg" width="2000" url="http://hondanews.com/photos/76a4a8aa-a8ac-bc08-e37b-05004c476a7c/download.jpg" lang="en-US" medium="image" fileSize="1229433" height="1329"/>
        <media:content type="image/jpeg" width="1200" url="http://hondanews.com/photos/76a4/a8aa/76a4a8aa-a8ac-bc08-e37b-05004c476a7c-en-US-1200x1200.jpg" lang="en-US" medium="image" expression="sample" fileSize="1137201" height="1200"/>
      </media:group>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>U.S. R&amp;D: Honda Announces Winners of First iDream Student Challenge</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;Honda today announced the winners of the first &lt;a href="http://hondagrant.com/"&gt;iDream Student Challenge&lt;/a&gt; at the 2010 Honda Initiation Grant (HIG) Technical Horizon Symposium in Columbus, Ohio. With a focus on technologies that advance the quality of human life, the iDream Student Challenge is a scholarship program designed to inspire new thinking to everyday challenges and foster a spirit of innovation among the leaders of tomorrow.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This year's competition included 19 teams of Ohio State University science and engineering students, whose projects offered creative engineering solutions and innovative technologies in one of three categories: Electronics, Mobility, and Materials. A total of $60,000 was awarded to the top three teams in each category, as well as the viewer's choice winner who was chosen by online voting. This year's winners are:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Electronics, First Place: No Abandonment, Baby Wireless Sensor&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Mobility, First Place: Solar Solutions, Solar Thermal Electric Car Charging Station&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Materials, First Place: Smaller Memories to Remember, Oxide Nanowires for Next Generation Solid State Memory Devices&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Viewer's Choice: OSU Gait Trainer Team, Gait Trainer for Children with Cerebral Palsy&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;"As an organization dedicated to being at the forefront of innovation, Honda created this program to inspire new thinking, foster creativity, and encourage students to be the leaders of tomorrow," said Lara Minor, Principal Engineer at Honda R&amp;amp;D Americas-Ohio and organizer of the HIG and iDream Student Challenge programs.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Since 1997, Honda has also awarded grants to academic professors to further their research in a variety of areas including automotive, materials, computer and robotics, safety, intelligent vehicle, and environmental technologies. This year's HIG recipients, who were each awarded a grant of $50,000, are:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Andrea Thomaz, Georgia Institute of Technology, Socially Guided Machine Learning for Humanoid Robots&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Alan Black, Carnegie Mellon University, Conversational Speech Synthesis&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Michael Harold, University of Houston, Enhancing Liquid Fuel Yield During Algae Pyrolysis in Structured Catalytic Reactors&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Donald Bliss, Duke University, Light and Flexible Multi-Element Structures that Resist Sound and Vibration Transmission&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Yaser Sheikh, Carnegie Mellon University, Dynamic Visual SLAM: Reconstructing Dynamic Environments from Mobile Cameras&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;About Honda&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt; Honda began operations in the U.S. in 1959 with the establishment of American Honda Motor Co., Inc., Honda's first overseas subsidiary. Honda began U.S. production of motorcycles in 1979 and automobiles in 1982. The company has invested more than $12.1 billion in its North American operations with employment of nearly 28,000 associates, and annual purchases of more than $17.5 billion in parts and materials from suppliers in North America. Honda vehicles are manufactured using domestic and globally-sourced parts.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Honda News &amp;amp; Views: &lt;a href="http://www.honda.com/news%20"&gt;http://www.honda.com/news&lt;br /&gt; &lt;/a&gt;Honda Multimedia Newsroom (For Press Only): &lt;a href="http://www.hondanews.com"&gt;http://www.hondanews.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt; Honda on YouTube: &lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/honda"&gt;http://www.youtube.com/honda&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt; Honda on Twitter: &lt;a href="http://www.twitter.com/alicia_at_honda"&gt;http://www.twitter.com/alicia_at_honda&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt; Honda on Flickr: &lt;a href="http://www.flickr.com/hondanews"&gt;http://www.flickr.com/hondanews&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt; Honda Web site: &lt;a href="http://www.honda.com"&gt;http://www.honda.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <category>U.S. R&amp;D</category>
      <pubDate>Thu, 08 Jul 2010 15:00:55 -0700</pubDate>
      <guid>http://hondanews.com/releases/655c0a90-2df0-37e8-5f56-9b004c451330</guid>
      <link>http://hondanews.com/releases/655c0a90-2df0-37e8-5f56-9b004c451330</link>
      <media:title>Honda Announces Winners of First iDream Student Challenge</media:title>
      <media:description type="html">&lt;p&gt;Honda today announced the winners of the first &lt;a href="http://hondagrant.com/"&gt;iDream Student Challenge&lt;/a&gt; at the 2010 Honda Initiation Grant (HIG) Technical Horizon Symposium in Columbus, Ohio. With a focus on technologies that advance the quality of human life, the iDream Student Challenge is a scholarship program designed to inspire new thinking to everyday challenges and foster a spirit of innovation among the leaders of tomorrow.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This year's competition included 19 teams of Ohio State University science and engineering students, whose projects offered creative engineering solutions and innovative technologies in one of three categories: Electronics, Mobility, and Materials. A total of $60,000 was awarded to the top three teams in each category, as well as the viewer's choice winner who was chosen by online voting. This year's winners are:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Electronics, First Place: No Abandonment, Baby Wireless Sensor&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Mobility, First Place: Solar Solutions, Solar Thermal Electric Car Charging Station&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Materials, First Place: Smaller Memories to Remember, Oxide Nanowires for Next Generation Solid State Memory Devices&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Viewer's Choice: OSU Gait Trainer Team, Gait Trainer for Children with Cerebral Palsy&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;"As an organization dedicated to being at the forefront of innovation, Honda created this program to inspire new thinking, foster creativity, and encourage students to be the leaders of tomorrow," said Lara Minor, Principal Engineer at Honda R&amp;amp;D Americas-Ohio and organizer of the HIG and iDream Student Challenge programs.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Since 1997, Honda has also awarded grants to academic professors to further their research in a variety of areas including automotive, materials, computer and robotics, safety, intelligent vehicle, and environmental technologies. This year's HIG recipients, who were each awarded a grant of $50,000, are:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Andrea Thomaz, Georgia Institute of Technology, Socially Guided Machine Learning for Humanoid Robots&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Alan Black, Carnegie Mellon University, Conversational Speech Synthesis&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Michael Harold, University of Houston, Enhancing Liquid Fuel Yield During Algae Pyrolysis in Structured Catalytic Reactors&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Donald Bliss, Duke University, Light and Flexible Multi-Element Structures that Resist Sound and Vibration Transmission&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Yaser Sheikh, Carnegie Mellon University, Dynamic Visual SLAM: Reconstructing Dynamic Environments from Mobile Cameras&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;About Honda&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt; Honda began operations in the U.S. in 1959 with the establishment of American Honda Motor Co., Inc., Honda's first overseas subsidiary. Honda began U.S. production of motorcycles in 1979 and automobiles in 1982. The company has invested more than $12.1 billion in its North American operations with employment of nearly 28,000 associates, and annual purchases of more than $17.5 billion in parts and materials from suppliers in North America. Honda vehicles are manufactured using domestic and globally-sourced parts.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Honda News &amp;amp; Views: &lt;a href="http://www.honda.com/news%20"&gt;http://www.honda.com/news&lt;br /&gt; &lt;/a&gt;Honda Multimedia Newsroom (For Press Only): &lt;a href="http://www.hondanews.com"&gt;http://www.hondanews.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt; Honda on YouTube: &lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/honda"&gt;http://www.youtube.com/honda&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt; Honda on Twitter: &lt;a href="http://www.twitter.com/alicia_at_honda"&gt;http://www.twitter.com/alicia_at_honda&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt; Honda on Flickr: &lt;a href="http://www.flickr.com/hondanews"&gt;http://www.flickr.com/hondanews&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt; Honda Web site: &lt;a href="http://www.honda.com"&gt;http://www.honda.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</media:description>
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    <item>
      <title>U.S. R&amp;D: 2010 Honda Digital Factbook</title>
      <description>      &lt;img src="http://cdn.hondanews.com/photos/e888/cf04/e888cf04-c531-be9d-9b0e-55004c34d400-100x100-thumb.jpg" /&gt; &lt;br/&gt;
      2010 Honda Digital Factbook
</description>
      <category>U.S. R&amp;D</category>
      <pubDate>Mon, 17 May 2010 11:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
      <guid>http://hondanews.com/photos/2010-honda-digital-factbook</guid>
      <link>http://hondanews.com/photos/2010-honda-digital-factbook</link>
      <media:group>
        <media:title>2010 Honda Digital Factbook</media:title>
        <media:description>      &lt;img src="http://cdn.hondanews.com/photos/e888/cf04/e888cf04-c531-be9d-9b0e-55004c34d400-100x100-thumb.jpg" /&gt; &lt;br/&gt;
      2010 Honda Digital Factbook
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    <item>
      <title>U.S. R&amp;D: Honda to Demonstrate Advanced Safety Technology in New York</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;Honda (&lt;a href="http://www.honda.com/"&gt;http://www.honda.com&lt;/a&gt;) engineers will demonstrate an advanced vehicle-to-vehicle communications system that helps vehicles avoid collisions with one another as part of Honda's participation in the 15th annual World Congress on Intelligent Transportation Systems. This will be done by showing a working prototype system on a public road in front of the Jacob Javits Center on Nov. 17-20, 2008. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Intelligent Transportation Systems are aimed at improving transportation through better safety and mobility as well as enhancing productivity through the use of a broad range of advanced information and communications technologies. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Honda's participation in the ITS World Congress is based on the company's focus on the research and development of advanced safety systems and the application of new information technologies to automobiles. The vehicle-to-vehicle communication demonstration, using an Acura RL sedan, is designed to showcase the potential for inter-vehicle communications as a means to reduce vehicle collisions at intersections, which today account for approximately 17 percent of fatal traffic collisions in the U.S. The demonstration will be held at two intersections along 11th Avenue, at 36th and 37th streets, directly in front of the Jacob Javits Center. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Through the use of autonomous sensors and vehicle-to-vehicle radio communication, the goal of the Honda system is to warn drivers of potential dangers at intersections in situations where the driver's view of the oncoming vehicle is obstructed by buildings, trees, fences or large trucks. In the event of an impending collision, the system can provide audio, visual and tactile alerts to the driver.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;A key enabler of the system is the Dedicated Short Range Communications (DRSC) system, which allows for inter-vehicle communications at a frequency of 5.9 gigahertz (GHz). The DSRC system allows each vehicle to broadcast a "heartbeat" signal that includes key information such as speed, acceleration and brake status, which can be detected and interpreted by other vehicles in close proximity. Designed primarily as a line-of-sight communications technology, Honda has been working to advance the capabilities of the DSRC system and allow for inter-vehicle communication even in the presence of obstacles to line-of-sight communication, such as large trucks and buildings. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The Acura RL being used in the demonstration is already a technology leader with available Collision Mitigation Braking System (CMBS&amp;trade;), Active Cruise Control, Active Front Lighting System, and AcuraLink&amp;reg; weather and Traffic Rerouting&amp;trade;. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The vehicle-to-vehicle demonstration will be orchestrated by Honda R&amp;amp;D Americas, Inc., which represents Honda in ITS-related industry-government research programs in the U.S., including the Crash Avoidance Metric Partnership (CAMP), the Vehicle Infrastructure Integration (VII) initiative, and the Integrated Vehicle-Based Safety Systems (IVBSS) program.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Honda Exhibit at ITS World Congress&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Honda's exhibit inside the Jacob Javits Center will include a 2009 Acura RL featuring CMBS&amp;reg; and the AcuraLink&amp;reg; vehicle navigation and information system, and a Honda Gold Wing motorcycle, the world's first production motorcycle equipped with an airbag. Further, a number of displays and technologies Honda offers exclusively in Japan will be exhibited, including car to car, car to motorcycle and intersection collision avoidance technologies, the Honda Monpal electric scooter designed for senior citizens with physical limitations, and the company's highly advanced Internavi navigation system which provides route guidance in Japan, including informing the driver of the most fuel efficient route currently available.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Honda's 'Safety for Everyone' Approach to Safety&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;American Honda's "Safety for Everyone" approach is a comprehensive commitment to vehicle safety that seeks to provide high levels of occupant protection for all Honda and Acura vehicles, regardless of size or price, enhanced compatibility with other vehicles, and improved injury mitigation for pedestrians. As part of this approach, Honda has applied a core suite of advanced safety technologies as standard equipment on virtually all Honda and Acura vehicles sold in the U.S. since it announced its "Safety for Everyone" initiative in 2003. These include driver and passenger front and side airbags, side curtain airbags for all rows, and anti-lock brakes (ABS); and Vehicle Stability Assist (VSA) with rollover sensor for all light trucks. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Honda also leads the industry in addressing the issue of compatibility between large and smaller vehicles in a collision with its Advanced Compatibility Engineering&amp;trade; (ACE) body structure, already applied to the 15 of 19 new Honda and Acura models and being applied to the all-new 2009 Honda Fit, which was launched this fall.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Honda has also led in development and application of advanced pedestrian injury mitigation features. More than 8 million Honda and Acura vehicles already on the road in the U.S. today are equipped with features such as collapsible hood hinges and breakaway windshield wiper pivots, designed to reduce severe head injuries that are responsible for 60 percent of pedestrian fatalities. In advancing its designs, Honda first sought to better understand the dynamics of pedestrian collisions with the development of POLAR II, widely recognized as the world's most advanced pedestrian safety dummy. Tests conducted with POLAR II led to the development of these and other design features being incorporated into all new Honda and Acura automobiles.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Honda also operates two of the world's most sophisticated crash test laboratories for development improved safety designs and technologies. In 2000, in Japan, Honda established the world's first indoor car-to-car multidirectional crash test laboratory. The facility has played a critical role in the development of enhanced designs for occupant and pedestrian safety as well as vehicle-to-vehicle collision compatibility. In 2003, Honda R&amp;amp;D America's opened an automotive safety test facility in Ohio to perform advanced testing on all its U.S.-developed models as well as advanced research utilizing unique equipment such as the world's first pitching test sled and the world's highest resolution impact barrier.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;About Honda&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;
  &lt;a href="http://www.honda.com/"&gt;Honda&lt;/a&gt; (NYSE: HMC) is the largest manufacturer of engines in the world that power a wide range of products, including automobiles and light trucks, motorcycles, ATVs, personal watercraft, generators, marine engines, lawn and garden equipment that earn the company more than 23 million customers annually. Honda began operations in the U.S. in 1959. The company has since invested more than $10.6 billion in its North America operations, including 16 major manufacturing facilities and 12 major research and development centers. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;About ITS&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;
The World Congress on Intelligent Transportation Systems is held annually, with the location rotating among nations in the Americas, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region. The theme of the 15th World Congress on ITS is "ITS Connections. Saving Time. Saving Lives." The World Congress on ITS is the largest event in the world for ITS leaders, policy makers, and other industry professionals with approximately 35,000 participants. Held in conjunction with ITS America's 2008 Annual Meeting, the event includes more than 200 extraordinary education sessions, exhibitions, and the largest fully-integrated demonstration showcasing vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-roadside communication technologies and services.&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <category>U.S. R&amp;D</category>
      <pubDate>Thu, 13 Nov 2008 06:05:00 -0800</pubDate>
      <guid>http://hondanews.com/releases/9b1f85e2-dbbc-ba0f-6042-ca004c34bc00</guid>
      <link>http://hondanews.com/releases/9b1f85e2-dbbc-ba0f-6042-ca004c34bc00</link>
      <media:title>Honda to Demonstrate Advanced Safety Technology in New York</media:title>
      <media:description type="html">&lt;p&gt;Honda (&lt;a href="http://www.honda.com/"&gt;http://www.honda.com&lt;/a&gt;) engineers will demonstrate an advanced vehicle-to-vehicle communications system that helps vehicles avoid collisions with one another as part of Honda's participation in the 15th annual World Congress on Intelligent Transportation Systems. This will be done by showing a working prototype system on a public road in front of the Jacob Javits Center on Nov. 17-20, 2008. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Intelligent Transportation Systems are aimed at improving transportation through better safety and mobility as well as enhancing productivity through the use of a broad range of advanced information and communications technologies. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Honda's participation in the ITS World Congress is based on the company's focus on the research and development of advanced safety systems and the application of new information technologies to automobiles. The vehicle-to-vehicle communication demonstration, using an Acura RL sedan, is designed to showcase the potential for inter-vehicle communications as a means to reduce vehicle collisions at intersections, which today account for approximately 17 percent of fatal traffic collisions in the U.S. The demonstration will be held at two intersections along 11th Avenue, at 36th and 37th streets, directly in front of the Jacob Javits Center. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Through the use of autonomous sensors and vehicle-to-vehicle radio communication, the goal of the Honda system is to warn drivers of potential dangers at intersections in situations where the driver's view of the oncoming vehicle is obstructed by buildings, trees, fences or large trucks. In the event of an impending collision, the system can provide audio, visual and tactile alerts to the driver.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;A key enabler of the system is the Dedicated Short Range Communications (DRSC) system, which allows for inter-vehicle communications at a frequency of 5.9 gigahertz (GHz). The DSRC system allows each vehicle to broadcast a "heartbeat" signal that includes key information such as speed, acceleration and brake status, which can be detected and interpreted by other vehicles in close proximity. Designed primarily as a line-of-sight communications technology, Honda has been working to advance the capabilities of the DSRC system and allow for inter-vehicle communication even in the presence of obstacles to line-of-sight communication, such as large trucks and buildings. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The Acura RL being used in the demonstration is already a technology leader with available Collision Mitigation Braking System (CMBS&amp;trade;), Active Cruise Control, Active Front Lighting System, and AcuraLink&amp;reg; weather and Traffic Rerouting&amp;trade;. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The vehicle-to-vehicle demonstration will be orchestrated by Honda R&amp;amp;D Americas, Inc., which represents Honda in ITS-related industry-government research programs in the U.S., including the Crash Avoidance Metric Partnership (CAMP), the Vehicle Infrastructure Integration (VII) initiative, and the Integrated Vehicle-Based Safety Systems (IVBSS) program.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Honda Exhibit at ITS World Congress&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Honda's exhibit inside the Jacob Javits Center will include a 2009 Acura RL featuring CMBS&amp;reg; and the AcuraLink&amp;reg; vehicle navigation and information system, and a Honda Gold Wing motorcycle, the world's first production motorcycle equipped with an airbag. Further, a number of displays and technologies Honda offers exclusively in Japan will be exhibited, including car to car, car to motorcycle and intersection collision avoidance technologies, the Honda Monpal electric scooter designed for senior citizens with physical limitations, and the company's highly advanced Internavi navigation system which provides route guidance in Japan, including informing the driver of the most fuel efficient route currently available.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Honda's 'Safety for Everyone' Approach to Safety&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;American Honda's "Safety for Everyone" approach is a comprehensive commitment to vehicle safety that seeks to provide high levels of occupant protection for all Honda and Acura vehicles, regardless of size or price, enhanced compatibility with other vehicles, and improved injury mitigation for pedestrians. As part of this approach, Honda has applied a core suite of advanced safety technologies as standard equipment on virtually all Honda and Acura vehicles sold in the U.S. since it announced its "Safety for Everyone" initiative in 2003. These include driver and passenger front and side airbags, side curtain airbags for all rows, and anti-lock brakes (ABS); and Vehicle Stability Assist (VSA) with rollover sensor for all light trucks. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Honda also leads the industry in addressing the issue of compatibility between large and smaller vehicles in a collision with its Advanced Compatibility Engineering&amp;trade; (ACE) body structure, already applied to the 15 of 19 new Honda and Acura models and being applied to the all-new 2009 Honda Fit, which was launched this fall.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Honda has also led in development and application of advanced pedestrian injury mitigation features. More than 8 million Honda and Acura vehicles already on the road in the U.S. today are equipped with features such as collapsible hood hinges and breakaway windshield wiper pivots, designed to reduce severe head injuries that are responsible for 60 percent of pedestrian fatalities. In advancing its designs, Honda first sought to better understand the dynamics of pedestrian collisions with the development of POLAR II, widely recognized as the world's most advanced pedestrian safety dummy. Tests conducted with POLAR II led to the development of these and other design features being incorporated into all new Honda and Acura automobiles.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Honda also operates two of the world's most sophisticated crash test laboratories for development improved safety designs and technologies. In 2000, in Japan, Honda established the world's first indoor car-to-car multidirectional crash test laboratory. The facility has played a critical role in the development of enhanced designs for occupant and pedestrian safety as well as vehicle-to-vehicle collision compatibility. In 2003, Honda R&amp;amp;D America's opened an automotive safety test facility in Ohio to perform advanced testing on all its U.S.-developed models as well as advanced research utilizing unique equipment such as the world's first pitching test sled and the world's highest resolution impact barrier.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;About Honda&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;
  &lt;a href="http://www.honda.com/"&gt;Honda&lt;/a&gt; (NYSE: HMC) is the largest manufacturer of engines in the world that power a wide range of products, including automobiles and light trucks, motorcycles, ATVs, personal watercraft, generators, marine engines, lawn and garden equipment that earn the company more than 23 million customers annually. Honda began operations in the U.S. in 1959. The company has since invested more than $10.6 billion in its North America operations, including 16 major manufacturing facilities and 12 major research and development centers. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;About ITS&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;
The World Congress on Intelligent Transportation Systems is held annually, with the location rotating among nations in the Americas, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region. The theme of the 15th World Congress on ITS is "ITS Connections. Saving Time. Saving Lives." The World Congress on ITS is the largest event in the world for ITS leaders, policy makers, and other industry professionals with approximately 35,000 participants. Held in conjunction with ITS America's 2008 Annual Meeting, the event includes more than 200 extraordinary education sessions, exhibitions, and the largest fully-integrated demonstration showcasing vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-roadside communication technologies and services.&lt;/p&gt;</media:description>
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      <title>U.S. R&amp;D: Hot Wheels&#174; Honda Racer&#8482; Turns Up the Heat in 1/64th Scale Model</title>
      <description>The Honda Racer&#8482;, a much-anticipated 1/64th scale Hot Wheels&#174; car designed by Honda R&amp;D Americas, Inc., in Torrance, California, is part of the Hot Wheels Designer's Challenge as a way to celebrate the die-cast brand's 40th anniversary. The Honda Racer arrives on store shelves in May 2008.</description>
      <category>U.S. R&amp;D</category>
      <pubDate>Fri, 25 Apr 2008 11:21:55 -0700</pubDate>
      <guid>http://hondanews.com/videos/afe715e1-690b-9f61-5609-cb004bf33517</guid>
      <link>http://hondanews.com/videos/afe715e1-690b-9f61-5609-cb004bf33517</link>
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        <media:title>Hot Wheels&#174; Honda Racer&#8482; Turns Up the Heat in 1/64th Scale Model</media:title>
        <media:description>The Honda Racer&#8482;, a much-anticipated 1/64th scale Hot Wheels&#174; car designed by Honda R&amp;D Americas, Inc., in Torrance, California, is part of the Hot Wheels Designer's Challenge as a way to celebrate the die-cast brand's 40th anniversary. The Honda Racer arrives on store shelves in May 2008.</media:description>
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      <title>U.S. R&amp;D: Hot Wheels 'Honda Racer' Turns Up the Heat in a 1/64th Scale Model</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;Honda is announcing the arrival of the Honda Racer&amp;trade;, a much-anticipated 1/64th scale Hot Wheels&amp;reg; car designed by Honda R&amp;amp;D Americas, Inc., in Torrance. The Honda model, along with designs from five additional automakers, were selected as part of the Hot WheelsDesigner's Challenge&amp;trade; as a way to celebrate the die-cast brand's 40th anniversary. The Honda Racer arrives on store shelves in May 2008.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;"The Honda Racer combines the excitement of Honda's racing heritage with Hot Wheels' reputation for speed, power, performance and attitude," says Guillermo Gonzalez, senior designer of Honda R&amp;amp;D Americas, Inc., and designer of the Honda Racer. "The core concept is built around our idea for an 'ultimate racecar' and leverages the design freedom made possible by a scale model car." &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The key element to the design of the entire car is that the body is in the shape of the Honda "H" emblem. The exterior shape resembles an imaginative side-by-side racecar of 1960s vintage that encloses a driver and a navigator. The general shape, styling and paint scheme is further inspired by Honda's early participation in Formula 1 racing and its 1967 RA 273&amp;trade; racecar. The white and red paint scheme, the open cockpits, large exhaust system and open wheels are all elements inspired by the historic Honda racecar.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;A powerful Honda V-10 VTEC&amp;reg; engine sits between the piloting team. If brought up to scale, the engine would displace an amazing 2.0 liters per cylinder. A set of velocity stacks and an intake that receives air through the body of the car sits between red DOHC valve covers to provide a technologically-advanced look. The exhaust system is a giant set of twisted, yet balanced tubes that reside high above the engine, complementing the power plant design at the back end of the car. The dynamic expression of technology, history and detail is evident throughout the design of the car. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;"Sure, it is awesome to play with the cars on the orange track again, but I discovered that designing a Hot Wheels car is very different and in some ways more liberating than designing a production car," says Gonzalez, a native of East Los Angeles who considers automotive design to be his dream job. "For example, the primary design constraint is that the car had to fit on the orange track and perform a loop. Aside from that, the possibilities are without limit." &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Mattel invited auto manufacturers to participate in the Hot Wheels Designer's Challenge as part of the die-cast brand's 40th anniversary celebration. The design of the Honda Racer debuted at the 2007 Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) show in Las Vegas in October as a 1/5th scale model. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Starting in mid-August, the Honda Racer 1/5th scale model and other cars from the Designer's Challenge will be part of the Hot Wheels 40th anniversary road trip traveling along historic U.S. Route 40, stopping at multiple cities along the way. The tour starts at the Mattel headquarters in El Segundo, California, in August and ends at Watkins Glen, New York, in early September. See www.hotwheels.com/40th for more information.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;u&gt;Honda Racer Technical Specifications&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br&gt;
  Layout: Mid engine/ rear wheel drive&lt;br&gt;
  Seating Capacity: 2&lt;br&gt;
  Length x Width x Height (cm): 7.0 x 3.0 x 2.2&lt;br&gt;
  Curb Weight: 40 grams&lt;br&gt;
  Body/ Frame: Real die-cast metal, plastic&lt;br&gt;
  Fuel: Gravity and a child's imagination&lt;br&gt;
  Engine: Die-cast Honda V-10 (theoretical)&lt;br&gt;
  Valvetrain: DOHC VTEC, four valves per cylinder (theoretical)&lt;br&gt;
  Displacement: 20 liters/1220 cubic inches (theoretical)&lt;br&gt;
  Suspension: Solid front and rear axles&lt;br&gt;
Tires: Low-friction hard plastic&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;u&gt;About the Hot Wheels&amp;reg; Brand&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br&gt;
Hot Wheels&amp;reg; cars revolutionized boys' toys in 1968 with an original line of super-fast, customized cars built for speed, power, performance and attitude. Now, 40 years later, Hot Wheels&amp;reg; is a global lifestyle brand that represents the coolest cars imaginable in scales from miniature to full-size. Hot Wheels&amp;reg; cars are also popular collectibles for adults and each year, introduces a new line-up of innovative vehicles, track sets and playsets. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;u&gt;About Mattel&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br&gt;
Mattel, Inc., (NYSE: MAT, www.mattel.com) is the worldwide leader in the design, manufacture and marketing of toys and family products. The Mattel family is comprised of such best-selling brands as Barbie&amp;reg;, the most popular fashion doll ever introduced, Hot Wheels&amp;reg;, Matchbox&amp;reg;, American Girl&amp;reg;, Radica&amp;reg; and Tyco&amp;reg; R/C, as well as Fisher-Price&amp;reg; brands, including Little People&amp;reg;, Power Wheels&amp;reg; and a wide array of entertainment-inspired toy lines. Mattel is recognized as one of 2008's "100 Best Companies to Work For" by FORTUNE Magazine and among the 100 Most Trustworthy U.S. Companies by Forbes Magazine. Committed to ethical manufacturing sustainable business practices, Mattel marked a 10-year milestone in 2007 for its Global Manufacturing Principles. With worldwide headquarters in El Segundo, Calif., Mattel employs more than 30,000 people in 43 countries and territories and sells products in more than 150 nations. Mattel's vision is to be the world's premier toy brands -- today and tomorrow. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;u&gt;About Honda&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br&gt;
  Honda is one of the world's leading producers of mobility products including its diverse line-up of automobiles; motorcycles and ATVs; power products; marine engines; personal watercraft; jet engines; and, aircraft. Founded in Japan in 1948, Honda began operations in the U.S. in 1959 with the establishment of American Honda Motor Co., Inc., Honda's first overseas subsidiary.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;  &lt;em&gt;For more information about Honda products, please visit www.honda.com. For media inquiries, please visit www.hondanews.com. Additional Hot Wheels information is available at www.hotwheels.com/40th.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/body&gt;
&lt;/html&gt;
</description>
      <category>U.S. R&amp;D</category>
      <pubDate>Tue, 22 Apr 2008 11:07:00 -0700</pubDate>
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      <media:title>Hot Wheels 'Honda Racer' Turns Up the Heat in a 1/64th Scale Model</media:title>
      <media:description type="html">&lt;p&gt;Honda is announcing the arrival of the Honda Racer&amp;trade;, a much-anticipated 1/64th scale Hot Wheels&amp;reg; car designed by Honda R&amp;amp;D Americas, Inc., in Torrance. The Honda model, along with designs from five additional automakers, were selected as part of the Hot WheelsDesigner's Challenge&amp;trade; as a way to celebrate the die-cast brand's 40th anniversary. The Honda Racer arrives on store shelves in May 2008.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;"The Honda Racer combines the excitement of Honda's racing heritage with Hot Wheels' reputation for speed, power, performance and attitude," says Guillermo Gonzalez, senior designer of Honda R&amp;amp;D Americas, Inc., and designer of the Honda Racer. "The core concept is built around our idea for an 'ultimate racecar' and leverages the design freedom made possible by a scale model car." &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The key element to the design of the entire car is that the body is in the shape of the Honda "H" emblem. The exterior shape resembles an imaginative side-by-side racecar of 1960s vintage that encloses a driver and a navigator. The general shape, styling and paint scheme is further inspired by Honda's early participation in Formula 1 racing and its 1967 RA 273&amp;trade; racecar. The white and red paint scheme, the open cockpits, large exhaust system and open wheels are all elements inspired by the historic Honda racecar.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;A powerful Honda V-10 VTEC&amp;reg; engine sits between the piloting team. If brought up to scale, the engine would displace an amazing 2.0 liters per cylinder. A set of velocity stacks and an intake that receives air through the body of the car sits between red DOHC valve covers to provide a technologically-advanced look. The exhaust system is a giant set of twisted, yet balanced tubes that reside high above the engine, complementing the power plant design at the back end of the car. The dynamic expression of technology, history and detail is evident throughout the design of the car. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;"Sure, it is awesome to play with the cars on the orange track again, but I discovered that designing a Hot Wheels car is very different and in some ways more liberating than designing a production car," says Gonzalez, a native of East Los Angeles who considers automotive design to be his dream job. "For example, the primary design constraint is that the car had to fit on the orange track and perform a loop. Aside from that, the possibilities are without limit." &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Mattel invited auto manufacturers to participate in the Hot Wheels Designer's Challenge as part of the die-cast brand's 40th anniversary celebration. The design of the Honda Racer debuted at the 2007 Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) show in Las Vegas in October as a 1/5th scale model. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Starting in mid-August, the Honda Racer 1/5th scale model and other cars from the Designer's Challenge will be part of the Hot Wheels 40th anniversary road trip traveling along historic U.S. Route 40, stopping at multiple cities along the way. The tour starts at the Mattel headquarters in El Segundo, California, in August and ends at Watkins Glen, New York, in early September. See www.hotwheels.com/40th for more information.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;u&gt;Honda Racer Technical Specifications&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br&gt;
  Layout: Mid engine/ rear wheel drive&lt;br&gt;
  Seating Capacity: 2&lt;br&gt;
  Length x Width x Height (cm): 7.0 x 3.0 x 2.2&lt;br&gt;
  Curb Weight: 40 grams&lt;br&gt;
  Body/ Frame: Real die-cast metal, plastic&lt;br&gt;
  Fuel: Gravity and a child's imagination&lt;br&gt;
  Engine: Die-cast Honda V-10 (theoretical)&lt;br&gt;
  Valvetrain: DOHC VTEC, four valves per cylinder (theoretical)&lt;br&gt;
  Displacement: 20 liters/1220 cubic inches (theoretical)&lt;br&gt;
  Suspension: Solid front and rear axles&lt;br&gt;
Tires: Low-friction hard plastic&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;u&gt;About the Hot Wheels&amp;reg; Brand&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br&gt;
Hot Wheels&amp;reg; cars revolutionized boys' toys in 1968 with an original line of super-fast, customized cars built for speed, power, performance and attitude. Now, 40 years later, Hot Wheels&amp;reg; is a global lifestyle brand that represents the coolest cars imaginable in scales from miniature to full-size. Hot Wheels&amp;reg; cars are also popular collectibles for adults and each year, introduces a new line-up of innovative vehicles, track sets and playsets. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;u&gt;About Mattel&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br&gt;
Mattel, Inc., (NYSE: MAT, www.mattel.com) is the worldwide leader in the design, manufacture and marketing of toys and family products. The Mattel family is comprised of such best-selling brands as Barbie&amp;reg;, the most popular fashion doll ever introduced, Hot Wheels&amp;reg;, Matchbox&amp;reg;, American Girl&amp;reg;, Radica&amp;reg; and Tyco&amp;reg; R/C, as well as Fisher-Price&amp;reg; brands, including Little People&amp;reg;, Power Wheels&amp;reg; and a wide array of entertainment-inspired toy lines. Mattel is recognized as one of 2008's "100 Best Companies to Work For" by FORTUNE Magazine and among the 100 Most Trustworthy U.S. Companies by Forbes Magazine. Committed to ethical manufacturing sustainable business practices, Mattel marked a 10-year milestone in 2007 for its Global Manufacturing Principles. With worldwide headquarters in El Segundo, Calif., Mattel employs more than 30,000 people in 43 countries and territories and sells products in more than 150 nations. Mattel's vision is to be the world's premier toy brands -- today and tomorrow. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;u&gt;About Honda&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br&gt;
  Honda is one of the world's leading producers of mobility products including its diverse line-up of automobiles; motorcycles and ATVs; power products; marine engines; personal watercraft; jet engines; and, aircraft. Founded in Japan in 1948, Honda began operations in the U.S. in 1959 with the establishment of American Honda Motor Co., Inc., Honda's first overseas subsidiary.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;  &lt;em&gt;For more information about Honda products, please visit www.honda.com. For media inquiries, please visit www.hondanews.com. Additional Hot Wheels information is available at www.hotwheels.com/40th.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/body&gt;
&lt;/html&gt;
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      Hot Wheels&#174; Honda Racer&#8482; Turns Up the Heat in 1/64th Scale Model
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      Hot Wheels&#174; Honda Racer&#8482; Turns Up the Heat in 1/64th Scale Model
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      Hot Wheels&#174; Honda Racer&#8482; Turns Up the Heat in 1/64th Scale Model
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      <title>U.S. R&amp;D: Hot Wheels&#174; Honda Racer&#8482; Turns Up the Heat in 1/64th Scale Model</title>
      <description>      &lt;img src="http://cdn.hondanews.com/photos/8196/b7b6/8196b7b6-a9ce-d252-29df-b4004c34f403-100x100-thumb.jpg" /&gt; &lt;br/&gt;
      Hot Wheels&#174; Honda Racer&#8482; Turns Up the Heat in 1/64th Scale Model
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      <category>U.S. R&amp;D</category>
      <pubDate>Tue, 22 Apr 2008 10:07:47 -0700</pubDate>
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    <item>
      <title>U.S. R&amp;D: Honda Awards Advanced Research Grants to Seven U.S. Universities</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;Honda (&lt;a href="http://www.honda.com/" target="_blank"&gt;www.honda.com&lt;/a&gt;) today awarded $50,000 advanced research grants to professors at seven U.S. universities at the 10th anniversary of the Honda Initiation Grant program (&lt;a href="http://www.hondagrant.com/" target="_blank"&gt;www.hondagrant.com&lt;/a&gt;) and Technical Horizon Symposium held at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Calif. As part of the focus on advanced research and technology, Honda demonstrated the latest running version of its humanoid robot ASIMO (&lt;a href="http://www.asimo.honda.com/" target="_blank"&gt;asimo.honda.com&lt;/a&gt;), as well as other advanced technologies.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt; Honda established research and development operations in America more than 30 years ago and today has 13 major R&amp;amp;D facilities in the U.S. focused on complete product development for automobiles, motorcycles and other products as well as advanced research. The Honda Initiation Grant program was established in 1997 to foster collaborative research activity between Honda R&amp;amp;D engineers in the U.S. and members of the academic community in North America. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt; The goal of the Honda Initiation Grant program is to fund innovative ideas in the early stages of research that are likely to make valuable contributions to technology over a longer term of five to ten years. Over the past decade, Honda has awarded 75 research grants to professors at universities throughout North America focused on the development of cutting-edge technologies in the areas of environmental technology, fundamental material science, computer science and humanoid robotics, advanced safety technology, intelligent vehicle technology and aviation.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt; The 2007 class of Honda Initiation Grant recipients was selected from 300 grant submissions, and includes the following seven professors and universities:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Dr. Marcelo Dapino of The Ohio State University: for the use of smart material technology for an adaptive seat belt system&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Tarek El Dokor of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University: for development of holographic instrument panel controls and display&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Dr. Pu-Xian Gao of the University of Connecticut: for study of nano-catalysts for automotive emissions control systems&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Dr. David Jacobs of the University of Maryland: for the study of enhanced facial recognition computer algorithms for humanoid robotics&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Dr. Yaoyu Li of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee: for the optimization of power management for plug-in hybrid vehicles when common route driving &lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Paul McGinn of the University of Notre Dame: for enhanced design and performance of fuel cells&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Dr. Rafael Piestun of the University of Colorado: for enhanced robotic recognition techniques of 3-dimensional images&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt; Honda has provided additional funding to some Honda Initiation Grant recipients based on promising research. A number of grant recipients have begun to make contributions to Honda products and research efforts, including Dr. John Renauld, a professor of mechanical engineering at Notre Dame University and 2004 grant winner, who attended the 2007 Technical Horizon Symposium to share his experience with the 2007 Honda Initiation Grant recipients. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt; Based on a study of living organisms Dr. Renauld developed a next-generation collision simulation model that more accurately predicts vehicle behavior in a collision and is being applied to future automotive products developed by Honda in the U.S. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt; Information concerning grant submissions for the 2008 Honda Initiation Grant program will be announced in February 2008.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;About Honda Research Institute USA, Inc.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt; Honda Research Institute was founded in 2003, to focus on longer term research and discovery in order to innovate Honda's current and future products. Honda Research Institute maintains three U.S. offices dedicated to the fields of material science (focused on novel functional nano-materials), computer science research (focused on human-level intelligence) and strategic venturing (investing in early-to-mid stage technology venture companies which would create strategic synergy with Honda).&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;About Honda R&amp;amp;D Americas, Inc.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt; Honda R&amp;amp;D Americas began its operation in 1975 with local market research activities and has steadily grown its capabilities over the past three decades to include all aspects of new vehicle design and development. The company operates 9 major R&amp;amp;D facilities in the U.S. with more than 1,300 designers, engineers, and support personnel engaged in the complete development and testing of automobiles, motorcycles and power equipment products for North America and global markets. Current products developed by Honda R&amp;amp;D Americas include the Honda Civic Coupe, Pilot, Element and Ridgeline and the Acura TL and MDX; the Honda TRX400EX all-terrain vehicle (ATV) and the Honda HRX217 walk behind lawn mower.&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <category>U.S. R&amp;D</category>
      <pubDate>Thu, 15 Nov 2007 16:33:00 -0800</pubDate>
      <guid>http://hondanews.com/releases/044e0acd-0a70-0673-f0cc-85004c34bda3</guid>
      <link>http://hondanews.com/releases/044e0acd-0a70-0673-f0cc-85004c34bda3</link>
      <media:title>Honda Awards Advanced Research Grants to Seven U.S. Universities</media:title>
      <media:description type="html">&lt;p&gt;Honda (&lt;a href="http://www.honda.com/" target="_blank"&gt;www.honda.com&lt;/a&gt;) today awarded $50,000 advanced research grants to professors at seven U.S. universities at the 10th anniversary of the Honda Initiation Grant program (&lt;a href="http://www.hondagrant.com/" target="_blank"&gt;www.hondagrant.com&lt;/a&gt;) and Technical Horizon Symposium held at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Calif. As part of the focus on advanced research and technology, Honda demonstrated the latest running version of its humanoid robot ASIMO (&lt;a href="http://www.asimo.honda.com/" target="_blank"&gt;asimo.honda.com&lt;/a&gt;), as well as other advanced technologies.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt; Honda established research and development operations in America more than 30 years ago and today has 13 major R&amp;amp;D facilities in the U.S. focused on complete product development for automobiles, motorcycles and other products as well as advanced research. The Honda Initiation Grant program was established in 1997 to foster collaborative research activity between Honda R&amp;amp;D engineers in the U.S. and members of the academic community in North America. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt; The goal of the Honda Initiation Grant program is to fund innovative ideas in the early stages of research that are likely to make valuable contributions to technology over a longer term of five to ten years. Over the past decade, Honda has awarded 75 research grants to professors at universities throughout North America focused on the development of cutting-edge technologies in the areas of environmental technology, fundamental material science, computer science and humanoid robotics, advanced safety technology, intelligent vehicle technology and aviation.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt; The 2007 class of Honda Initiation Grant recipients was selected from 300 grant submissions, and includes the following seven professors and universities:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Dr. Marcelo Dapino of The Ohio State University: for the use of smart material technology for an adaptive seat belt system&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Tarek El Dokor of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University: for development of holographic instrument panel controls and display&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Dr. Pu-Xian Gao of the University of Connecticut: for study of nano-catalysts for automotive emissions control systems&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Dr. David Jacobs of the University of Maryland: for the study of enhanced facial recognition computer algorithms for humanoid robotics&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Dr. Yaoyu Li of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee: for the optimization of power management for plug-in hybrid vehicles when common route driving &lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Paul McGinn of the University of Notre Dame: for enhanced design and performance of fuel cells&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Dr. Rafael Piestun of the University of Colorado: for enhanced robotic recognition techniques of 3-dimensional images&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt; Honda has provided additional funding to some Honda Initiation Grant recipients based on promising research. A number of grant recipients have begun to make contributions to Honda products and research efforts, including Dr. John Renauld, a professor of mechanical engineering at Notre Dame University and 2004 grant winner, who attended the 2007 Technical Horizon Symposium to share his experience with the 2007 Honda Initiation Grant recipients. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt; Based on a study of living organisms Dr. Renauld developed a next-generation collision simulation model that more accurately predicts vehicle behavior in a collision and is being applied to future automotive products developed by Honda in the U.S. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt; Information concerning grant submissions for the 2008 Honda Initiation Grant program will be announced in February 2008.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;About Honda Research Institute USA, Inc.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt; Honda Research Institute was founded in 2003, to focus on longer term research and discovery in order to innovate Honda's current and future products. Honda Research Institute maintains three U.S. offices dedicated to the fields of material science (focused on novel functional nano-materials), computer science research (focused on human-level intelligence) and strategic venturing (investing in early-to-mid stage technology venture companies which would create strategic synergy with Honda).&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;About Honda R&amp;amp;D Americas, Inc.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt; Honda R&amp;amp;D Americas began its operation in 1975 with local market research activities and has steadily grown its capabilities over the past three decades to include all aspects of new vehicle design and development. The company operates 9 major R&amp;amp;D facilities in the U.S. with more than 1,300 designers, engineers, and support personnel engaged in the complete development and testing of automobiles, motorcycles and power equipment products for North America and global markets. Current products developed by Honda R&amp;amp;D Americas include the Honda Civic Coupe, Pilot, Element and Ridgeline and the Acura TL and MDX; the Honda TRX400EX all-terrain vehicle (ATV) and the Honda HRX217 walk behind lawn mower.&lt;/p&gt;</media:description>
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