Honda Accord Coupe Concept

Honda R&D Americas Opens New Advanced Design Studio in California

December 5, 2006 — PASADENA, Calif. — Honda R&D Americas, Inc. (HRA) today opened the doors to its new Advanced Design Studio. The new studio, located in the Old Town area of Pasadena, is the company’s third design center in California. The new studio will focus on advanced design concepts and the creation of concept vehicles for future Honda and Acura products.

In March 2006, HRA broke ground on its second major California design center - the Acura Design Center in Torrance, located adjacent to its existing Los Angeles Center and the company’s U.S. sales headquarters. The new Acura Design Center, opening next spring, will focus exclusively on market research and styling design activities for the Acura brand, while the existing Los Angeles Center will be responsible for market research, concept development and styling design for the Honda brand.

“We will now have one center focused on Honda products, another center focused on Acura products and this new advanced studio that takes a longer view focused on advanced design concepts that will guide the future of both of these brands,” said Hirohide Ikeno, president of Honda R&D Americas.

HRA’s new Advanced Design Studio will work closely with other Honda Advance Design studios around the world - specifically in Germany, Italy and Japan - to provide future product and brand direction to Acura and Honda product design stylists. In addition, the new U.S. studio will undertake special projects such as concept cars for American auto shows and school projects with the Art Center College of Design.

“I am pleased that this studio will be integrated into the community and will have a relationship with the Art Center,” said Ikeno. “In this way, it will enable Honda designers to make an important contribution by working together with young designers of the future.”

“Our challenge is not simply to create new products, although we’ll do that, but to help establish brand direction that is two generations away,” said David Marek, chief design stylist with Honda R&D Americas and the director of the Advanced Design Studio. “In our factories, we emphasize that cars are built by people, not machines. And in our design work, even as we get more high tech … I want to emphasize that our goal is to connect our designers with the customer … designing cars with their own hands and their own ideas.”

HRA began its operations in California in 1975 with local market research activities and has steadily grown its capabilities over the past 31 years to include all aspects of new vehicle design and development. Recent development efforts include trend-setting products like the Honda Ridgeline, Pilot and Element, and the all-new Civic Coupe and Civic Si and the Acura MDX and TL sedan.

With the addition of the Advanced Design Studio and Acura Design Center (which will begin operation in summer 2007), the company will operate 10 major facilities in North America with more than 1,400 designers, engineers and support personnel engaged in the development of Honda and Acura passenger cars, motorcycles and power equipment products for North America and global markets.

HRA’s main centers of operation include the Los Angeles Center (Torrance, CA) responsible for market research, concept development and styling design; the Ohio Center (Raymond, OH) responsible for complete product development, testing and support of North American supplier and manufacturing operations; and two dynamic test facilities near the Mojave Desert in Cantil, California, and in East Liberty, Ohio. Power equipment R&D is conducted at the North Carolina Center in Swepsonville, NC.

Honda Accord Coupe Concept to Debut at North American International Auto Show
TORRANCE, Calif. 12/05/2006 –

A bold new look for the next-generation Honda Accord Coupe will be unveiled at the January 2007 North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit, American Honda Motor Co., Inc., announced today.

The Accord Coupe Concept will convey exterior styling cues and design features that provide a first look at the direction the next-generation Accord will take and it promises to set a new benchmark for Accord and for the segment. The Accord is Honda’s best selling model in North America, and this vehicle’s debut at NAIAS will mark the first time an Accord concept car has ever been shown at a major auto show.
Car and Driver magazine recently named the current-generation 2007 Honda Accord as one of the winners of its prestigious and highly competitive annual “10Best Cars” award. The Accord has achieved “10Best” status 21 times in the 25 years that Car and Driver editors have been conducting the competition, more than any other vehicle in the award’s history.

In March 2006, HRA broke ground on its second major California design center - the Acura Design Center in Torrance, located adjacent to its existing Los Angeles Center and the company’s U.S. sales headquarters. The new Acura Design Center, opening next spring, will focus exclusively on market research and styling design activities for the Acura brand, while the existing Los Angeles Center will be responsible for market research, concept development and styling design for the Honda brand.

“We will now have one center focused on Honda products, another center focused on Acura products and this new advanced studio that takes a longer view focused on advanced design concepts that will guide the future of both of these brands,” said Hirohide Ikeno, president of Honda R&D Americas.

HRA’s new Advanced Design Studio will work closely with other Honda Advance Design studios around the world - specifically in Germany, Italy and Japan - to provide future product and brand direction to Acura and Honda product design stylists. In addition, the new U.S. studio will undertake special projects such as concept cars for American auto shows and school projects with the Art Center College of Design.

“I am pleased that this studio will be integrated into the community and will have a relationship with the Art Center,” said Ikeno. “In this way, it will enable Honda designers to make an important contribution by working together with young designers of the future.”

“Our challenge is not simply to create new products, although we’ll do that, but to help establish brand direction that is two generations away,” said David Marek, chief design stylist with Honda R&D Americas and the director of the Advanced Design Studio. “In our factories, we emphasize that cars are built by people, not machines. And in our design work, even as we get more high tech … I want to emphasize that our goal is to connect our designers with the customer … designing cars with their own hands and their own ideas.”

HRA began its operations in California in 1975 with local market research activities and has steadily grown its capabilities over the past 31 years to include all aspects of new vehicle design and development. Recent development efforts include trend-setting products like the Honda Ridgeline, Pilot and Element, and the all-new Civic Coupe and Civic Si and the Acura MDX and TL sedan.

With the addition of the Advanced Design Studio and Acura Design Center (which will begin operation in summer 2007), the company will operate 10 major facilities in North America with more than 1,400 designers, engineers and support personnel engaged in the development of Honda and Acura passenger cars, motorcycles and power equipment products for North America and global markets.

HRA’s main centers of operation include the Los Angeles Center (Torrance, CA) responsible for market research, concept development and styling design; the Ohio Center (Raymond, OH) responsible for complete product development, testing and support of North American supplier and manufacturing operations; and two dynamic test facilities near the Mojave Desert in Cantil, California, and in East Liberty, Ohio. Power equipment R&D is conducted at the North Carolina Center in Swepsonville, NC.