Grady

The thing with Honda is they give you the right car with half the power.

woodburn

I'd still have the US version look how sweet this looks!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZwdhNsHFvo

fishfryer

Maybe that in the U.S. we simply view smaller cars as cars that should be much cheaper than a larger car. Europeans generally accept little toy cars like the Fiat 500 and Mini as viable modes of transportation, where many of us see them as a cute novelty or for use as a spare car for city usage when out Ford Excursion is getting some work done on it.

Maybe it's fuel costs or maybe we can't imagine driving NY to California in a small car whereas a typical European family doesn't travel as far. But a car like this could be their main car, and if they are spending a lot of time in it, it is worth it to have it fully optioned up.

Triple-H

Maybe the problem is Honda sees the Civic 5-door shown above as too much competition for their Fit here?
Getting a selection of hatchbacks in this country is like pulling teeth from a chicken.

I just hope Hyundai starts to bury Honda, because only then will Honda's arrogance start to change
And I bet Hyundai is going to sell a crap load of the Velosters
Clearly Hyundai is feeling confident to take a risk, a strategy Honda has totally forgotten about

dcmonkey

i think this is exactly what honda needs, the rebirth of the tuner and eco car platform which was for a long time the civic hatch. it can be sold to whoever wants one, the guy looking for something fun,peppy and has a good platform to improve upon or the day to day commuter who needs something to get to from a-b and back and be able to bring some friends along.I think honda is just very scared to do the hatchback thing after the EP chassis civic SI debuted in the states and didnt do so well and that was partly because of the powerplant and options. thus killing the hatchback also as someone mentioned before they dont want to kill the fit with a bigger hatch which would be in that price range which means that if they sold the hatch in the states the fit would have to be lowered in price so they dont conflict with each other or the civic would have to suffer a bump in price which would kill its sales so logically no hatchy for you!


what made honda so iconic from the 80's to late 90's and maybe even a few years in the 2000's was the way they did business and the logic behind their products. if you think about it they almost had a not so racy version of almost everything performance minded or oriented they sold which covered every market even when honda actually sold the "type R" they had the other ends covered with the integra rs,ls,gs,and gsr. same went for the civic with every variation all the way up to the SI coupe (em1)

hondas focus has now and from what it seems to be forever changed into making quick buck cars for everyone to buy and their new idea of performance is adding a front lip a "cool" and big wheels. its not the same as when the type R and REAL SI's were around where chassis bracing and components changed,engines were actually performance oriented platforms or at least performance tweeked and they were still light weight and well equipt and got fairly decent gas mileage too.I know this comment might seem biased since this is an s2000 forum, but in my honest opinion the last dying breath that REAL HONDA PERFORMANCE had was the s2000 C/R, its almost everything that the integra type R was to us, its already awesome platform with worlds of possibilities to improve weather its n/a or f/i so they didnt have to do much. good aerodynamics, good suspension for track racing, a little weight reduction and thats it. they did cheap out on the brakes but you cant have it all i guess.

sorry for the rant but i had a good brainstorm

Popeye

It will never come here to do the idiots in Torrance

TougeS2k

The volestar (or however you spell it) looks amazing! But have you seen the motor specs? wow, GUT-less... Really poor performer. 165hp i think? 150tq? Something like 9 seconds to 60, ouch

Dead Serious

i dont see this car selling well here. i think that modern car technology has created a high level of abstraction in this country to the point where the american consumer doesnt know anything about cars. so now they all design and market cars to the image we think we want instead of the inteligent, experienced ppl at honda making the best product they can for a given price and letting us discover what a great car really is. honda is letting we the ignorant consumers dictate the car they build like they are selling novelty t-shirts. The Euro Civic is just a novelty t-shirt that europeans think is funny.

woodburn

Yeah sp true bro HONDA DIED AFTER THE S2000 CR!

RC 94

You are way off with your numbers

Comparing the Hyundai to the CRZ makes it look like a really good deal. Cheaper, faster, better highway MPG, and arguably more attractive.