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Honda is poised to release the newest iteration of its Life MPV-style kei car in Japan, offering it up in three different trim levels and with more functionality than ever before.

Sized to transport any three hefty American 12-year-olds, or four Japanese adults, the new Life has been developed with what Honda calls “daily smile technology.” That concept refers to the cars equal levels of utility and drivability, which Honda hopes will be enough to make a driver smile at least once per day.

Those odds go up considerable for those buyers daring enough to specify the trim level called “Pastel” (note: it’s the pink one), a fashionable take on the Life that Honda intends for drivers who’re looking to “express their own colorful, interesting lifestyles.” For the slightly more stoic buyer, the spartan G-Type or the sporty Diva may be more appropriate.

The tiny Life is powered by an equally tiny 660cc I-3 motor, or in the case of the Diva Turbo a turbocharged three-banger of the same displacement. Find full details of the new JDM Life below or loads of images of the car in our gallery above. 

It's no secret that our test fleet is commonly filled with top-dollar luxury cars and exhilarating sports coupes, so when a a sub-$20,000 car comes along and can still make us fight over seat time, it must be something special. The 2009 Honda Fit Sport is just that -- a class-leader in a segment that is finally getting some much-deserved time in the spotlight.

The new Fit has a ton of cargo capacity inside, and matched with Honda reliability and a cute appearance, this car is sure to be a hit amongst buyers looking to downsize. Thus, we're offering up the Fit for this week's round of Ask It -- fire away with your questions and stay tuned for our video response next week.

After Honda's Mugen Civic Si took off last year, the automaker has officially announced that they will be offering Mugen parts for the 2009 Fit. All of these parts will be available on an a-la-carte basis and will be sold through authorized Honda dealers.

The list of Fit-ready Mugen parts is quite extensive, including sixteen-inch alloy wheels, an aluminum oil filler cap, front sport grille, front under spoiler, side spoiler, rear under spoiler, sports silencer, rear emblem, quick shift kit, special shift knob, sport pedals, sport floor mats, and a rear-view mirror cover.

No specific engine or suspension upgrades were mentioned, so Honda tuners will have to look elsewhere for Fit-ready performance modifications. Look for these Mugen accessories to go on sale in the Spring of 2009.

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Honda has gone ahead and launched its 2009 Element, offering a slightly restyled package with more available content, and the same quirkiness that could be found in the original vehicle. Gone are Element’s love ‘em or hate ‘em plastic-clad fenders, with the new car at once much sleeker, and more subtle than the outgoing model. The ’09 car is still likely to polarize opinion somewhat with its overtly box-like design, but the shape seems to be mellowing to a certain extent—not quite so radical in the face of certain imitators that have cropped up in the meantime.

The new Element will start at $20,175 for the two-wheel drive LX model, moving up to a base of $25,185 for the four-wheel-drive EX with navigation. Honda’s 2.4-liter i-VTEC engine is offered with either a five-speed auto or five-speed manual transmission, though fuel economy numbers are considerably better with the autobox (20/25 auto vs. 18/23 for the manual).

Read on below for Honda’s full press release or peruse our gallery above for images of the 2009 Element.

Over the years, Honda has been known for making rather good, small displacement four and six-cylinder engines. However, even with a well designed V-6 in its flagship Acura sedans, it seems that the Japanese automaker has been finding it rather hard to keep up with competitors when they have V-8 muscle under their belts.

Thus, in what appears to be a recent confirmation by Takeo Fukui, Honda Motor CEO, Acura will receive one of Honda's very first V-8 engines. Though there is no word as to what Acura model will receive the new engine, speculation has it that the upcoming RL, due in 2010, may get it.

+ All Cars All The Time: Acura Gets Honda's First V8

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Honda Insight Concept Arrives in Paris

Honda debuted its new Insight hybrid concept today, and while we were happy to find that the car looked less like Toyota’s Prius in person than it had in photos, it is a bit disheartening to think that many of the elements that strongly set the two apart will likely be gone when Honda brings the car to market. The radical multi-element lights and slick allow wheels are likely to fall into the concept car dustbin of history, leaving the future Insight just a bit less desirable than its fancy concept forbearer when it makes it to dealers sometime next year.
 
We’ve got live images of Honda’s ultra-important and ultra-frugal Insight concept in our gallery above, and the full scoop from the company about the car in the press release below.

One of the loyal readers over at Autoblog has stumbled upon what looks to be a brochure scan of the facelifted Honda Element which should launch as a 2009 or 2010 model. The new front end mimics the new corporate face of the 2009 Pilot and Ridgeline and steers away from the current Element's funky styling.

Under the new skin, the Element should be powered by the same 2.4-liter four-cylinder from the 2008 model and will be available in both two- and four-wheel-drive trims. No word on if an edgy SC model will make its way into this updated Element, but stay tuned for more details as they emerge.

+ Autoblog

Honda's attempt at a funky advertising campaign backfired in California after residents started complaining about the 'musical' road.
 
To promote the Civic, Honda paid to resurface a section of the California highway with a pattern of grooves intended to play the William Tell overture (though somewhat off-key) when a vehicle drives over them at 55 miles-per-hour.
 
Unfortunately, while the concept may have seemed clever at first, the constant low pitched humming coming from the road irritated local residents― some claimed it kept them awake all night. As a result, the road is currently being resurfaced.
 
+ YouTube: musical HONDA singing road

Two new technologies developed by Honda will debut this year. The first bit of trick is a new camera system that can display a bird's-eye view of the car to help with parking, as well as allowing drivers to peek around blind corners and intersections. The system has four wide-angle cameras and uses the front and rear cameras to generate the view with the help of a computer. The first car that will have this system fitted is the redesigned Honda Odyssey minivan that's going on sale next month in Japan.

The second new piece of hardware is the driver's side i-SRS airbag that will make its way onto the Life small car first. The airbag utilizes a spiral-shaped seam and gas release valve that deploys in stages instead of one explosive burst. This way, it ensures a faster deployment speed and the amount of time that the bag stays inflated.
Though both are scheduled to be implemented in the Japanese domestic market, it is unsure whether they will be introduced into the U.S.

+ Automotive News: Honda will debut around-view camera, airbag this year

Honda has revealed the first official image of its next generation Insight Concept, set to be revealed in full force at this year’s Paris Auto Show in just about a month.

The Honda concept shares some styling cues with the FCX Clarity fuel cell vehicle, though it’s hard to overlook its obvious resemblance to the Toyota Prius as well. Like the Prius, the Insight concept will offer the versatility of a five-door hatchback configuration, and gain the aerodynamic benefits of the reduced front end profile. Despite its visual similarity, Honda claims that the Insight will be priced “significantly below hybrids available today,” when the car debuts in the U.S. market next spring.

The Insight will go on sale with rather huge expectations from its parent company, which says that it expects to sell on the order of 200,000 examples worldwide, and more than 100,000 units in the U.S. alone. Those hybrid sales will also be boosted with the launch of a smaller, sportier model based on the CR-Z concept, after the Insight is revealed.

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The 2009 Honda Fit hit dealerships a month earlier than the scheduled October 1 arrival date. Approximately 90,000 units will eventually be shipped to the U.S. from its Suzuka, Japan factory― the only plant currently producing the U.S. market Fits.
 
It seems that due to the increase in gasoline prices and positive publicity, Fit sales have risen more than 70% this year. 12,000 units were sold in July alone. Even though Honda has done everything it can to increase production, most dealers are likely going to be sold out of Fits for most of September. Therefore, in order to avoid a loss in sales, the Japanese automaker sped up production to bump the release date seven weeks ahead of schedule.

+ Automotive News: Honda: Dealerships will have Fits more than a month early

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—Ann Arbor, Michigan

Even though the original Fit debuted in 2001, we Americans were deprived of the little Honda that could until it finally arrived Stateside in 2006. After years of successful sales in Japan and Europe (where it sold as the Jazz) the folks at Honda decided to see how the diminutive hatchback would do in the bigger-is-better United States auto market. At that time, a gallon of regular unleaded still cost less than three dollars and consumers were lined up for miles waiting for new crossovers and sport-utilities to hit dealer lots. Not even Honda had anticipated that the Fit would sell roughly 80,000 units each year in America.

If this revamped Fit is to continue as the class-leader in a segment that is more important than ever, it must not only trump the outgoing model, it will need to have quality and refinement standards that one-up other small car offerings.

(Click through the post to read the full review.)

So far, use of the lightweight material carbon fiber is generaly reserved only for the high-end production models. Cars such as the BMW's M-series, Nissan's GT-R, and even General Motor's ZR1 supercar use it, but the relatively high expense prevents the material from being used in more conventional models.

Though automakers admit that they are still several years away from mainstream use of carbon fiber, a few Japanese companies, including carbon-specialist Toray Industries and Mitsubishi Rayon, are working with Nissan and Honda to develop a new type carbon fiber for use in mass-produced vehicles. The goal is to produce the material by the mid-2010s, allowing vehicles to be 40 percent lighter than the current models.

The Japanese government has supported the idea and will provide close to $20 million in support over the next five years. This will hopefully allow the next-generation of vehicles to be both lighter and more fuel efficient.

+ Motor Authority: Report: Japanese firms developing carbon-fiber for mass production

Join art director Nate Luzod as he gives a video tour of the 2009 Honda Pilot, answering some of our readers' questions along the way.

Honda announced Monday that at the Lincoln, Alabama plant, it plans to cut down production of the Honda Pilot crossover and the Honda Odyssey minivan to a combined 10,000 units.
With the trend now leaning towards smaller cars and away from larger heavier cars, the automaker saw the need to alter its inventory.

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Honda's trusty Pilot was given a complete overhaul for the 2009 model year and we've recently added one to our test fleet for a week-long stay. The new Pilot has a spruced up exterior with a very luxurious and tech-friendly interior. There's V-6 power under the hood (with cylinder deactivation) and four-wheel-drive, too, making the Pilot a pretty nice overall package.

So, what do you want to know about Honda's seven-seat sport-ute? Flood us with your questions in the comments section and stay tuned next week for our video response.

At the London Auto Show on July 22, Honda will unveil its lightweight sports car concept dubbed the OSM or Open Study Model. The concept is targeted to be both fuel-efficient and have low carbon-dioxide emissions.

Although the two-seater had its styling done at Honda's research and development center in Offenbach, Germany, Honda spokesman Steve Kirk states, "At present the OSM is just a design study, a clay model. It is definitely not confirmed for production at the moment."

Honda has been toying with us for a while now about the release date for the next version of the NSX. Originally the car was slated to be revealed at last year’s Tokyo Motor Show, but the bad rap on the Acura Advanced Sports Car concept put the kibosh on that thinking.

Honda has revealed the updated version of its popular small car, the 2009 Fit, here at the New York Auto Show.

New for the 2009 model year in Honda’s tiniest U.S. entry is a satellite navigation system with voice-recognition software, an MP3-friendly USB port, and revised multi-positional rear chairs that the company calls “Magic Seats.