It has been a while but Honda is now 50 years in existence in America. The company which started out in 1959 via the manufacturing and distribution of fuel-efficient Honda motorcycles, Honda pays tribute to the array of technologies it has brought into the business. The latest technology offering is of course the much hyped Honda Insight, the gas-electric hybrid that has been pretty much talked about these past months.

“On behalf of the tens of thousands of Honda associates in America, past and present, we offer our deepest thanks to our customers for placing their trust in Honda over the past 50 years,” said American Honda President & CEO Tetsuo Iwamura. “Today, in the face of new challenges, including the preservation of our environment, we renew our commitment to exceed the expectations of our customers and society.”

Highlights of Honda’s run:

• First automaker to meet U.S. Clean Air Act without a catalytic converter – Civic CVCC (1974)
• First vehicle to top U.S. EPA list of most fuel efficient cars – Civic (1977)
• First Japanese automaker to build motorcycles (1979) and automobiles (1982) in America – Marysville, Ohio
• First Japanese automaker to establish a luxury automobile brand – Acura (1986)
• First mass produced gas-electric hybrid car introduced in America – Insight (1999)
• First government-certified hydrogen fuel cell vehicle – FCX (2002)

Honda operates 10 U.S. manufacturing plants with two new plants under construction, along with 14 R&D facilities and more than 12 regional sales, parts and service, and finance offices around the country. The company’s network of U.S. parts suppliers comprises 545 companies in 34 states with annual purchases exceeding $17.5 billion in 2008.

(Source) Press

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The call for cars to start applying some eco-friendly decency is on and Lamborghini happens to be one of them. For their part, the target is to cut their carbon emissions by 35% by 2015, a move that will surely be welcomed with open arms in the car industry.

Add to that they will be making their models lighter, adding another factor in efficient motoring as they take some load off the fuel consumption of their popular luxury cars. To top it all off, their manufacturing plants will be cutting emissions as well, turning to solar panels for better heating and lighting systems needed today.

The firm has already launched an updated Gallardo LP 560-4 with an 18% reduction in CO2 emissions by using direct injection to the engine.

(Source) Verdict On Cars

Tags: car industry, carbon emissions, co2 emissions, fuel consumption, Gallardo, Lamborghini, lighter, lighting systems, luxury cars, manufacturing plants, models, verdict on cars

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It looks like NEC Electronics America is focusing on another branch for business. They will be at the 2009 SAE World Congress and shall provide various technical presentations focusing on advanced electronics solutions in several application areas: active safety technologies for vision-based safety systems; flexible CPU architectures for single- and multi-core applications; in-vehicle connectivity; and navigation systems.

NEC Electronics is dedicated to serving the needs of automotive customers and offers a wide range of MCUs and power management devices (PMDs) for use in automotive applications. In addition, the company’s zero-defect initiative has resulted in industry-leading MCU quality levels, while error-correction code (ECC) ensures flash memory-based MCU reliability.

On a worldwide basis, NEC Electronics Corporation was rated the number one supplier of 32-bit MCUs in 2008 for the second consecutive year and was also rated the number one supplier of 32-bit automotive MCUs according to the Gartner Dataquest March 2009 rankings report.

In addition to a strong product lineup, NEC Electronics also maintains a strong global manufacturing presence to support automotive customers around the world, as evidenced by the Multifab strategy initiated in manufacturing plants at NEC Kyushu Yamaguchi (Japan) and NEC Electronics America (Roseville, California), and by the automotive design center and quality assurance teams established in Duesseldorf, Germany.

(Source) Press

Tags: advanced electronics, automotive design, core applications, cpu architectures, electronics corporation, electronics solutions, gartner dataquest, manufacturing plants, nec electronics america, power management devices, quality levels, roseville california, sae world congress, safety technologies, second consecutive year, worldwide basis, yamaguchi japan

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