Honda's sales eclipse Toyota's
Brand takes lead in U.S. market since rival's recall troubles began; sustainability unclear
Saturday, February 20, 2010 2:55 AM
By Dan Gearino

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Honda overtook Toyota as the top-selling auto brand in the country in the three weeks since Toyota's recall crisis unfolded, according to a new report.

Truecar.com, a Web site that analyzes auto sales and pricing, said Honda had 13 percent of U.S. market share, leading Toyota, which was at 12.1 percent, Ford at 11.7 percent, and Chevrolet at 10 percent.

The report covers new-car sales from Jan. 21 to Feb. 15, a time frame so short that it is too soon to say whether Honda's gains will be sustained.

"We love to sell more cars," said Christina Ra, a Honda spokeswoman.

But Ra said her company is not making direct overtures to Toyota customers or altering its marketing to exploit Toyota's difficulties. "We are not changing our planning whatsoever," she said.

GM, on the other hand, continues to offer special incentives to Toyota owners through the end of this month.

Honda had the greatest gain from the Jan. 1-20 period, when Toyota was the market leader, with 17.5 percent, followed by Honda, at 11.2 percent; then Ford, at 10.6 percent; and Chevrolet, at 10.3 percent. The Truecar.com figures do not include fleet and rental sales.

"At the midpoint of the month, the Toyota recall has clearly had an impact on sales across the board," Truecar.com reported in a news release.

Notably, the report breaks down sales by brand, not by company, so Toyota and Lexus are separate, as are Honda and Acura and the various brands under Ford and General Motors, among others.

Truecar.com gathers sales figures for more than 40 percent of the vehicles sold in the country and then uses sampling methods to estimate nationwide sales, a spokesman said.

The report is a positive sign for Honda, which has two assembly plants in central Ohio, and is yet another bad omen for Toyota.

Toyota has had an intensely difficult few weeks, with product recalls and criticism from the U.S. government. Toyota President Akio Toyoda has agreed to testify before Congress about the safety concerns.

Meanwhile, Honda has not been immune to safety problems. Last week, the company added more than 400,000 vehicles to an existing recall for air bags that might burst and spray metal fragments.

And yet, that was nothing close to the 8 million vehicles that Toyota had recalled as of last week.

dgearino@dispatch.com

 

Televangelist Rod Parsley informed his flock in December that he urgently needed several million dollars because of financial problems attributed directly to Satan. According to a report in the Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch, Parsley's World Harvest Church was facing a $3 million deficit for the quarter ending in December after earlier in the year paying $3.1 million to settle a lawsuit over its day-care center's having too brutally spanked a boy. Wrote Parsley, "Will you help me take back what the devil stole?" [Columbus Dispatch, 12-16-09]

April Gaede, who four years ago guided her teenage daughters, Lynx and Lamb (performing as "Prussian Blue"), to a brief music career singing neo-Nazi songs, announced a new project recently on the white nationalist Web site Stormfront.org. She offers a no-fee matchmaking service to fertile Aryans, hoping to encourage marriage and baby-making -- to help white people keep up with rapidly procreating minorities. [Southern Poverty Law Center News, 1-25-10]

The death of a 49-year-old woman in Scotland in September 1999 brought to three the number of no-food, no-water, "breatharian"-diet followers of Australian Ellen Greve who have died of starvation in two years. Greve claims 5,000 disciples, charges over $2,000 (U.S.) per ticket for her seminars, and sells her only-sunlight-and-air philosophy ("liberation from the drudgery of food and drink") to guilty Westerners in part as conferring spirituality on Third World hunger. Nutritionists quoted by The Times of London said, of course, that there is no scientific basis for Greve's teachings. [Edmonton Journal-The Times (London), 9-26-99]

 

VANCOUVER -- Jaromir Jagr said Friday he will be a free agent after his current season in Russia ends and he may choose to come back to the NHL for the 2010-11 season.

Jagr, who scored a goal and looked dominant in the Czech Republic's 5-2 win over Latvia, wouldn't say definitively what his plans are, but it's obvious that he's already weighing his options and a return to the NHL is enticing.

He turned 38 on Monday, but does not feel his age is a factor because he's been practicing hard for two years on the larger European ice surface and is better shape than when he left.


Czech forward Jaromir Jagr talks about returning to North American and the Czech team's chance at gold. "NHL is a special league, no question about it. It has a lot of history and I think I was playing 18 years in the NHL and then I decided I am going to go back to Russia, and I can not say anything about my decision because I said I am not going to look back," Jagr said. "I'm just going to finish my contract there and then I am going to make a decision what I'm going to do next. But they treat me so well in Russia that would it be tough to leave them. On the other side, I want to maybe try to come here."

Jagr left the NHL after the 2007-08 season and signed a two-year contract to play with Avangard Omsk of Russia's Kontinental Hockey League, honoring a promise he made back in 2005.

Jagr played in Omsk during the NHL's work stoppage in 2004-05 and enjoyed his time there so much that he told the owners and the community that he would one day come back and play there again.

At the time Jagr signed to play in Omsk, it was assumed he would finish his career there. Now he's thinking about a return to the NHL and if he chooses to come back he would become an intriguing option on the free agent starting July 1.

"I think after those two years I spent in Russia I'm going to be a better player than I was before I left," Jagr said. "I know that. I found that out the year during the lockout. I was playing the whole year in Russia and I came back and I had probably the best year I had in New York."


Jagr put up 123 points on 54 goals and 69 assists in 2005-06, helping the Rangers make the playoffs for the first time since 1996-97. He said the larger European ice surface and the intensity of the practices have kept him in better shape than he was in the NHL.

"It's not easy to play there," Jagr said. "You practice a lot harder than in the NHL. On the big ice you have to skate. I play a lot on the big ice. Sometimes I will play on two lines. I think if I decided to come back, I'm think I'm going to be a better player than before I left."

But will he come back?

I think he should be in one of these for the 2010-2011 season

 

Sato Said No To Campos And USF1:
Takuma Sato said no to making a return to Formula One this year with the struggling new teams Campos or USF1. The Japanese, who contested nearly 100 Grands Prix until 2008, announced this week he will race in America's premier open wheeler IndyCar series in 2010. Sato, 33, said he was earlier "close" to securing deals with Toro Rosso, Lotus and Renault. He told Reuters: "There were (other) seats available - with Campos or USF1 - but I don't feel it was appropriate. "The name is F1 but I can't see those cars being competitive," added Sato, who debuted for Jordan in 2002 and also drove for BAR and Super Aguri.

 

(10 January 2010, Brazil) An electrical discharge made toast of municipal guard Arthur de Souza Coelho, 47, on Sunday evening. According to police reports, he had installed a tiny electric fence around his car to protect against the frequent robberies that occur in his neighborhood in Belem, Para. Then (direct translation from Portuguese) "he forgot that he had left the fence on and he finished dying with the electric shock."
After all, we are all dying, but some finish sooner than others.


(5 January 2010, Southampton, UK) Oh dear. Yet another man has got his hoo haw stuck in a pipe, taking many delicate maneuvers with a blow torch and METAl grinder to cut him loose from the steel, might as well say it, iron maiden. All told, seven firefighters and medics were involved in the operation. "The crew was worried about things getting too hot during the cutting," said a tongue-in-cheek spokesman for Hampshire Fire and Rescue. As long time readers know, this isn't the first man caught laying pipe...


(Date Unknown, Russia) Shiver me timbers! A man from Logmozero, Karelia, a village in northwestern Russia, was brought to the attention of police when concerned neighbors realized he was using a World War II aviation bomb as an anchor for his boat. Bomb experts said the 25 kilogram curiosity was in working order, and easily could have been triggered by an incautious action, sending shrapnel flying 500 meters from the epicenter. The detonator was missing, and a metal hook had been hammered into the device by the owner so that he could attach anchor chain to it.
Darwin says, " 'Semi-confirmed' because the media source is a website "Only in Russia" about the strange things Russians do. Additional confirmation is sought.

 

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (January 29, 2010)
– Defending Grand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge series champion Compass360 Racing started its 2010 title defense in the strongest possible manner Friday, taking the Street Tuner (ST) class victory at the season-opening Fresh from Florida 200, part of the annual Rolex 24 weekend at Daytona International Speedway.

Lawson Aschenbach and David Thilenius took their Honda Civic Si to the ST class win over a large, 36-car field in the first Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge (formerly KONI Challenge) race of the 2010 season, as the Toronto-based Compass360 organization began pursuit of its second consecutive ST championship.

Additional Compass360 entries finished fourth (Ben and Don Theetge) and fifth (Ryan Eversley and Zach Lutz) as Civic Si’s claimed five of the top seven finishing positions.

Following the Compass cars across the finish line at Daytona was the fifth-place Honda of America Racing Team (HART) Civic of Chad Gilsinger, Bryan Johnson and John Schmitt – all associates of Honda of America Manufacturing and Honda R&D Americas. Jorge and Juan Leroux rounded out the top seven ST finishers in their LRT Civic Si.

With the victory, Honda takes an early-season lead in the ST class manufacturers’ championship standings over rivals BMW, Mazda, Volkswagen and Porsche. The next round in the 10-race championship takes place March 6 at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Florida. The Continental Tire series also runs as part of the IZOD IndyCar Series weekend April 8-10 at Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama.

 

KV Racing Technology announced that Takuma Sato will drive for the team during the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series season.

"We are very excited to have been able to put this deal together with Takuma and his group," KVRT co-owner Jimmy Vasser said. "I can't wait to see what I know will be a extremely fast pace by Taku on the road courses and look forward to working with him and getting him up to speed on the ovals. I have no doubt that Taku will be right on the pace immediately. Taku's knowledge and experience will be a great asset and his great sense of humor and easy manner will add positive energy to our team."

 

Chicago media firm created Audi “Truth in 24” documentary
The American Le Mans Series is taking its television platform to the next level by way of an agreement with Emmy Award-winning Chicago based Intersport which will serve as the production partner for the Series’ two CBS Sports broadcasts in 2010. The Chicago-based media and marketing giant gives the American Le Mans Series a premium partner for two of its showcase events in 2010.....
......Working alongside the American Le Mans Series, Intersport will use its creative and innovative approach to create two 90-minute ‘docu-drama / lifestyle / feature type’ television programs based on Series’ events at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in May and Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in August. Coupled with track action, interviews and other timely content from each race, Intersport will inject revealing, behind-the-scenes look at the American Le Mans Series as well as explaining the science, technology and a historical perspective of road racing.

 

Friday, February 19, 2010
Honda Performance Development, Inc. Begins Honda FF Engine Deliveries

Honda Performance Development recently began shipping 1.5-liter Honda Fit engines to racers planning to run the engine in Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) Formula F competition. Through its introduction to the category, HPD hopes to strengthen FF's position as the first step in American open-wheel auto racing.

The initial batch of fuel-injected Honda L15A7 overhead-cam engines was shipped to competitors who had previously secured their orders via cash deposit. The Fit engine can be adapted for installation in existing FF chassis.

"This is an exciting day for all of us at HPD," said Erik Berkman, president of Honda Performance Development. "We hope that this foundational step in our grassroots motorsports initiative will help grow the FF class by making it more affordable and competitive."

The Honda FF engine was developed by HPD in cooperation with Maryland-based Quicksilver RacEngines. The engine was developed to equal the performance of the traditional Kent power plant through utilization of an intake restrictor plate and appropriately mapped Engine Control Unit (ECU), as confirmed during comparative testing with representative Kent engines under SCCA supervision. Final track output will be mandated by the SCCA through its restrictor determination.

Honda-powered FFs are approved for SCCA competition effective March 1, 2010.
Developed from the current Honda Fit, introduced in 2009, the L15A7 engine in FF form is intended to provide open-wheel racers with a modern, fuel-injected design offering superior service life, increased availability and lower operating costs. Engine rebuilds will be reduced, with a corresponding reduction in the need for top-end refreshing. In addition, crankshaft and valve-spring life should be extended dramatically; and most ignition and all carburetor maintenance will be eliminated.

"Many of us at HPD, myself included, have been involved in FF racing," said Marc Sours, HPD Production Division Manager and Large Project Leader for HPD's grassroots effort. "We believe in the class and want to see it grow in popularity. With the delivery of this first batch of Honda FF engines, and future orders, we are hoping to increase participation through economical competition."

Honda Fit race engines can be purchased as a complete package, including a base L15A7 engine and FF engine conversion kit (including intake, exhaust, dry sump, lightweight alternator, restrictor plate and ECU). Individual component parts will also be available for purchase separately.

HPD also offers chassis kits for three of the most popular FF designs: the Swift DB-1, Swift DB-6 and Van Diemen RF99-09 models. Several current race-car manufacturers, including Fast Forward Components (Piper) and Citation Engineering, offer FF chassis ready to accept the Fit engine.

 

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