The Honda Racing F1 Team announced that it has accomplished ISO14001 official recognition for its UK headquarters located in Brackley, Northamptonshire. It is the first time that the ISO14001 accreditation has been granted specifically to a Formula One team and as an integral part of its earthdreams programme. It also exhibits the team's dedication to captivating precise action on environmental matters for their F1 racing technology.

ISO14001 is the worldwide requirement for an EMS or environmental management system. Official approval to ISO14001 verifies the Honda Racing’s systems be conventional to the globally similar review standard. It also proves that the team has successfully employed its environmental management system.

"Obtaining ISO14001 certification is not an easy thing for a Formula One team to achieve. However our earthdreams initiative is at the core of our team culture and it is important that we, like our project partners, strive to do our best to minimise our impact on the environment in the course of our business. This is a step along the way and there are many areas where we can continue to improve but it's very pleasing that our efforts have been rewarded by the respected ISO standard and that we met its tough criteria at our first attempt. We are showing that running a business that is as highly pressured as Formula One and doing the right thing are entirely complementary,” says Nick Fry, Chief Executive Officer of the Honda Racing F1 Team.

The effort towards ISO14001 started three years ago with management training schemes on environmental concerns. The legendary Honda F1 Racing team is now working on detailed goals to lessen its CO2 emissions. They will also report development on its website HondaRacingF1.com.
"Contrary to popular belief, the fuel that we use to race and test our cars forms around only 1% of our CO2 emissions footprint. The vast majority is from power use at our factory and air transportation of people and equipment around the world. This gives us some formidable challenges to reduce our consumption but we intend to see the same technology and ingenuity that we deploy on our F1 car to make a worthwhile contribution to reducing our CO2 emissions,” added Nick Fry with so much delight.

“Green” tax breaks were introduced in Thailand last year. This is an effort of the nation as the world’s largest manufacturer of light pickups to tuck the title in the years to come. Annually, Thailand churns out 900,000 one-tonne trucks. The figure is three-fourths of global output.

The government is threatened by escalating oil prices and global warming concerns that could result in truck sales doldrums. This scenario could put a dent to Thai economy because shoppers are expected to shift to fuel-efficient compact cars. These reasons prompted the Thai government to offer incentives for the manufacturer of “eco-cars” that meet European emission standards.

"First-time car owners, and especially motorcyclists who want to become car owners, are cost-conscious consumers," said Surapong Paisitpatnapong, spokesman for the Federation of Thai Industries' automotive club. "Investments in eco-car production will help grow this new segment of the country's domestic auto market while increasing exports.”

By far, seven automakers have proposed eco-car projects to Thailand's Board of Investment. The automakers include Toyota Motor Corp., Volkswagen AG, and Tata Motors Surapong said four proposals have already been approved.

Also, Honda Motor Co. intends to invest $214 million to assemble eco-cars while manufacturing engines and parts in Thailand. Suzuki Motors, meanwhile, will invest $303.658 million to build a new factory in central Thailand. Approximately 80 percent of cars produces will be for export. Nissan Motors Co. also will invest $177 million to build 120,000 units annually. The output is also mainly allotted for export.

"Eco-cars are going to be hot in Thailand's auto market. The lower prices for these minicars, along with high oil prices, will drive up the demand," said Nongnapat Wilepana, a Nissan dealer in Bangkok.

AFP reported that under the scheme, the companies will not have to pay corporate income taxes on their investments for eight years, and duties on imported machinery will be waived.

“Thailand's main worry is that its auto industry depends entirely on foreign companies, since the kingdom has no national automaker,” Surapong noted. “That means the country will have to keep wooing automakers with attractive offers in the future to deter them from looking for better deals for their factories in other countries.”

At a press conference of the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC) held at the Toronto Congress Center at the country’s capital, twelve vehicles from twelve “Car of the Year” categories were awarded as “Best New” for 2008.


Giving recognition to the vehicles is the AJAC’s means of giving Canadians honest comparative information about new vehicles debuting in the country’s auto market. To stand for this cause, the organization made the information about each vehicle that made it on the list in their website ready for consumer access. To come up with the vehicle’s data, AJAC conducted a series of evaluation for the 177 new vehicles which initially made it as entries. The four day vehicle tests were held last October 29-November 2, 2007 at the Niagara-on-the-lake in Ontario. This yearly vehicle assessment had been famed in the global auto industry as the “TestFest”.

For the data to be reliable reflecting real life consumer driving experiences, the TestFest’s evaluation program includes the typical driving at public roads. At the site, 70 Journalists get to pick their bet by means of driving the cars back to back themselves on the same roads, day and under the same weather conditions to avoid bias. Seventeen evaluation parameters are used that basically include driver position and ergonomics, engine smoothness, steering, handling, visibility and styling both in the exterior and interior of the vehicle. With these filtering program, winning vehicles are really the best in their kind.

2008 CCOTY Co-chairman Paul Williams commented, "In my opinion, the AJAC Canadian Car of the Year awards are founded on the most objective, informed and thorough evaluation process you'll find. The evaluations are based on back-to-back testing in real-world situations. They're a uniquely Canadian resource for people looking to buy a new vehicle".

The 2008 category winners are:

BEST NEW SMALL CAR: Saturn Astra
BEST NEW FAMILY CAR: Honda Accord EX Sedan
BEST NEW LUXURY CAR: Mercedes-Benz C Class
BEST NEW PRESTIGE CAR (over $75,000): Audi R8
BEST NEW SPORTS/PERFORMANCE CAR under $50,000: MINI Cooper S
BEST NEW SPORTS/PERFORMANCE CAR over $50,000: Audi S5
BEST NEW CONVERTIBLE: BMW 335i Cabriolet
BEST NEW MINIVAN: Hyundai Entourage
BEST NEW PICKUP TRUCK: Chevrolet Silverado
BEST NEW SUV/CUV under $35,000: Nissan Rogue
BEST NEW SUV/CUV $35,000 - $60,000: Saturn Vue
BEST NEW SUV/CUV over $60,000: Buick Enclave

Aside from the twelve “Best New” awards, AJAC also awarded the Audi R8 as the “Most Coveted Vehicle”. The AJAC started recognizing vehicles as the “Most Coveted Vehicle” in 2005 giving honor to a dream car. The vehicle, to be a winner must gain the interests of car enthusiasts enough for them to say that it’s the vehicle they would buy in case they win in a lottery.

The said vehicle is greener than gas-electric hybrid vehicles as it is designed to run on hydrogen fuel which does not emit greenhouse gases. In connection with the unveiling of the FCX Clarity, Honda also announced that their Home Energy Station IV is already being used on their R&D facility in Torrance, California. Said unit is designed to provide fuel for hydrogen–powered vehicles such as the FCX Clarity. In addition, the said experimental device also provides electricity and heating for home use.

The said Home Energy Station is the fourth-generation of the mentioned technology and has been made more compact and efficient. With its compact construction, it will take up less space than its previous versions. According to Honda, the newest device is also less costly than previous units.

Hydrogen fueled vehicles are being seen as the vehicles of a greener future as it does not produce any greenhouse gases. Unlike hybrid vehicles which still produce carbon dioxide since they still burn petroleum fuel, hydrogen fuel cell-powered vehicles only produce water vapor as its emission. But in order for hydrogen-powered vehicles to be mass produced and used widely, car manufacturers should bring down its cost of production. Another issue being faced by this technology is the availability of refilling stations offering hydrogen fuel.

With the Home Energy Station, refilling hydrogen-powered vehicles is no longer a problem as consumers can easily refill their hydrogen car's tanks in their own homes. The said technology does not only cut down greenhouse gas production via automobiles but also through the power grid. Electricity is sometimes produced by burning petroleum fuel, but with the Home Energy Station, consumers can produce electricity for their home using hydrogen as fuel.

Tomiji Sugimoto, the vice president of Honda Research and Development Americas, had this to say: "Honda is striving to address the need for a refueling infrastructure for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. The Home Energy Station represents one promising solution to this issue, while offering the added benefit of heating and powering the home more efficiently."

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) recently named the thirty-four 2008 model year vehicles which were given their highest safety rating. Called the Top Safety Pick award, the system is developed to name the best vehicles in the market in terms of protecting its occupants in the unfortunate event of a crash. The IIHS tests vehicles for their adequacy in protecting motorists during, frontal, side, and rear crashes. Vehicles should be rated highly at the said tests before they could be given the Top Safety Pick award.

"For 2008, consumers have the widest selection of vehicles they've ever had that afford the best protection in the most common kinds of crashes," said Adrian Lund, the president of the IIHS. Since safety is one of the major concerns of auto buyers, the Top Safety Pick rating will help them in their decision of which new vehicle to buy.

Lund pointed out that an ESC can be of great help to keep motorists away from accidents. "Vehicles should be designed to provide good occupant protection when crashes occur, but now with ESC we have the possibility of preventing many crashes altogether," he said. "If all vehicles were equipped with ESC, as many as 10,000 fatal crashes could be avoided each year."

ESC comes in various names as automakers have different names for this system. Chevrolet vehicles with StabiliTrak are actually equipped with ESC. StabiliTrak is Chevrolet’s name for the ESC. For Nissan, it goes by the name of Vehicle Dynamic Control. Ford calls it the Advance Trac with Roll Stability Control or RSC.

Some of the vehicles included in the list are the Honda Accord, Audi A3, Subaru Impreza, BMW X5, Toyota Highlander, Toyota Tundra, Ford Taurus, and the Volvo XC90.

The government, in an effort to popularize the use of hybrid vehicles, gave tax credits for consumers who buy hybrids.

Toyota is the leader in hybrid sales and tax credits for the Prius, the Camry Hybrid, Highlander Hybrid, and the upscale Lexus RX400h are now diminishing. By the end of October, tax credits offered with these hybrids will be gone. This expiration of the tax credit may push consumers away from buying hybrid cars. This might be the case unless Congress steps in and extends the tax credits offered to hybrid car buyers. Tax credits for hybrids can range from as low as $250 to as high as $3,400. Unless Congress extends them, these hybrid credits will disappear after 2010. The credits expire after an automaker sells 60,000 vehicles; the credit will then be phased out over the next few months. Toyota's Prius reached 60,000 sold last summer, but if you buy before October 1, you still get a partial credit: $787.50.

Even with the Accord Hybrid discontinued, the tax credit will still diminish as the Civic Hybrid gains popularity. Mazda has the Tribute Hybrid and the hybrid vehicle recently qualified for tax credits.

Honda's world-wide sales rose 5.6 percent to 946,000 vehicles from the same period last year.

In June, Honda and the Toyota Motor Corp. increased production to meet rising demand from North America, Europe and Asia. Toyota raised global production 3.6 percent to 734,354 vehicles in June while Honda's global output rose four percent to 340,400 vehicles, the companies said in separate statements.

Additionally, net income of the second biggest Japanese automaker increased to ¥166.1 billion, or $1.4 billion, in the three months ended June 30, as compared with its ¥143.4 billion in 2006. Honda won customers in the United States, its biggest market, from domestics General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. with its Civic compact cars and CR-V SUVs.

Toyota's overseas production rose 7.2 percent, while output in Japan increased by 0.3 percent to 368,513. The automaker's exports rose 9.6 percent to 242,101 and Honda exported 55,207 vehicles, down by 2.8 percent. Meanwhile, Honda's domestic production dived by 4.8 percent while overseas output climbed 9.2 percent, Bloomberg added.

Even amid increasing raw-material costs and expenses related to new production facilities Honda’s net is bolstered. Honda increased its net-profit forecast for the year ending March 31 to 625 billion yen, a 5.5 percent increase from the year earlier.