Honda of Concord

In support of the 2012 Civic, Honda is sponsoring several music festivals this summer â?? including Sasquatch! (May 25-28) in George, WA, The Governors Ball in New York City (June 23-24) and Austin City Limits Music Festival in Austin, TX (Oct. 12-14). These events each feature a Honda Stage and a Honda Zone, which will showcase the 2012 Civic and numerous fan-friendly activities. Additionally, festival attendees will have the opportunity to register for a chance to win a 2012 Civic Si Coupe. For more info and to register for the chance to win now visit civicmusicsweeps.com.

"Gen Y Honda owners are passionate about music and we are excited to be a part of three of the top summer festivals," said Tom Peyton, senior manager of Honda national advertising. "Music fans can see the hottest musical talent on the Honda Stages and have the opportunity to drive away in the hottest car on the road, the Civic Si Coupe."

Honda returns to Sasquatch! for the third year and Austin City Limits Music Festival for the fourth consecutive year. New for 2012, Honda joins The Governors Ball Music Festival in New York.  Among many other great artists, the Honda Bigfoot Stage at Sasquatch! will feature The Roots, Explosions in the Sky and Mogwai and at The Governors Ball, Kid Cudi, Beck and Cage The Elephant.

About the Honda Civic
One of the best-selling compact cars in the United States, the Civic features a lineup of six distinct models: the conventional gasoline-powered Civic Sedan and Civic Coupe, two high-performance Civic Si models, gasoline-electric Civic Hybrid, the Civic Natural Gas and Civic HF high fuel economy model. The Civic lineup embodies the Honda brand values of 'clean, safe and fun' with two Civic models achieving EPA-estimated fuel economy ratings¹ of over 40 mpg on the highway. The Civic sedan has earned top safety ratings from NHTSA and a 'TOP SAFETY PICK' designation from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). Now in its ninth-generation, the Civic remains one of the most fun-to-drive compact cars on the road today.

For high-resolution photos, broadcast quality video and media information of the entire 2012 Civic lineup visit: www.hondanews.com. For information on the Civic Si Coupe giveaway, please visit www.civicmusicsweeps.com.

Connect with Honda:
Honda Media Newsroom (for journalists): www.hondanews.com
Honda Civic for consumers: www.automobiles.honda.com/Civic
Honda on YouTube: www.youtube.com/honda
Honda on Flickr: www.flickr.com/hondanews
Honda on Google+
Honda on Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/honda
Honda on Twitter: www.twitter.com/honda
Honda on Facebook: http://facebook.com/honda
Honda Civic on Facebook: http://facebook.com/hondacivic

Connect with the Festivals:
Sasquatch! Music Festival: http://sasquatchfestival.com
Governor's Ball: http://governorsballmusicfestival.com
Austin City Limits: http://www.aclfestival.com

Honda Aircraft Company today announced that its fourth conforming HondaJet aircraft, referred to as "F3," successfully completed its first flight last week on May 4, 2012. This first flight milestone was a key highlight amongst many, in an overall program update the company reported in a briefing at the European Business Aviation Convention and Exposition (EBACE) in Geneva, Switzerland, underscoring the HondaJet's progress and momentum toward certification.

The F3 aircraft, painted in a unique and striking yellow and white signature HondaJet paint scheme, began its first flight with engine startup at 10:40 am Eastern  Time and lift-off at 10:57 am, on May 4, 2012, from Honda Aircraft Company's world headquarters at the Piedmont Triad International Airport in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Stefan Johansson,  pilot-in-command, and Howard Judd, co-pilot, completed several checks during the flight, including: takeoff and climb; landing gear and flap operations; aircraft handling; air data system checks; and an Instrument Landing System approach using the flight director. Overall, the aircraft performed smoothly during its 74-minute flight, according to the pilots and telemetry teams, flying as high as 11,500 feet and as fast as 313 Knots True Air Speed (KTAS).

"The first flight of F3 shows the steady advancement on our course toward delivering to our customers an aircraft that offers not only superior performance, efficiency and comfort, but also superior quality," said Michimasa Fujino, President and CEO of Honda Aircraft Company. "We continue to see refinement in reliability and quality of our aircraft. We are successfully establishing our manufacturing foundation and process that contribute to creating high quality product, as well as to a great flying performance and experience, as our pilots report from just our first week of flying F3."

Honda Aircraft has now completed four FAA-conforming aircraft. Three of these aircraft are in its flight test fleet, plus one additional aircraft is in its structural ground test program. Earlier FAA-conforming HondaJet flight test aircraft have already achieved key benchmarks that meet or exceed the aircraft's designed performance goals of a maximum speed of 420 KTAS, maximum cruise altitude of 43,000 feet, climb rate of 3,990 feet per minute, and more.

The F3 aircraft is to be used primarily for avionics and electrical system flight testing elements within the HondaJet certification program. The aircraft has begun its test mission work in earnest.

"With regard to our new color choice for F3, yellow may be unconventional for a business jet, but the HondaJet is a new generation, advanced light jet with high performance and efficiency." continued Fujino. "HondaJet represents sportiness with high efficiency, so my choice of this special yellow for F3 expresses Honda's passion for, what we call, our â??sports car in the sky.'"

About HondaJet
HondaJet is the most advanced light business jet aircraft, with best-in-class advantages in performance, comfort, quality and efficiency. The HondaJet is the fastest, highest-flying, most quiet and most fuel efficient in its class. The HondaJet incorporates many technological innovations in aviation design, including a unique over-the-wing engine-mount configuration that dramatically improves performance and fuel efficiency by reducing aerodynamic drag. This airframe design reduces cabin noise and ground-detected noise when overhead and allows for a more spacious cabin and greater cargo capacity. The HondaJet is powered by two highly fuel-efficient GE Honda HF120 turbofan jet engines, and is equipped with the most advanced glass flight deck available in any light business jet, a Honda-customized Garmin® G3000 next-generation all-glass avionics system with a class-leading layout of three 14-inch landscape-format displays and dual touch-screen controllers. The HondaJet is Honda's first-ever commercial aircraft and lives up to the company's reputation for superior performance, efficiency, and value.

About Honda Aircraft Company
Honda Aircraft Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of American Honda Motor Company, Inc., was founded in 2006 though has its heritage in more than 20 years of ground-breaking aeronautical research and development. At Honda Aircraft's World Headquarters campus in North Carolina, the birthplace of aviation, the company's associates work in more than 500,000 square feet of state-of-the-art R&D, Manufacturing and Administration Headquarter buildings to develop, produce, market and support the HondaJet with HondaJet dealers. The challenging spirit upon which Mr. Soichiro Honda founded Honda Motors is still alive today as Honda Aircraft fulfills one of Honda's long-standing dreams to advance human mobility skyward.

www.hondajet.com

American Honda and its Honda Performance Development (HPD) subsidiary will power a single-car effort from Team Barracuda-Bryan Herta Autosport for veteran Canadian driver Alex Tagliani at the 2012 Indianapolis 500 and for the remainder of the 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series, Honda and the team announced today.

Under terms of the agreement, HPD will provide its new, turbocharged 2.2-liter Honda Indy V-6 engines to Team Barracuda-Bryan Herta Autosport's single, full-time entry for Tagliani, a 12-year IndyCar veteran and the pole qualifier at last year's at Indianapolis 500.

Founded in 2009 by former IndyCar driver Bryan Herta and veteran race engineer Steve Newey, Team Barracuda-Bryan Herta Autosport made its Indianapolis 500 debut in 2010 and last year won a thrilling 100th Anniversary Indianapolis 500 with the late Dan Wheldon driving.

Bryan Herta Autosport joins multi-car entries from A.J. Foyt Racing, Chip Ganassi Racing, Dale Coyne Racing, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, Sam Schmidt Motorsports and Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing as Honda-powered teams at the 2012 Indianapolis 500.

The addition brings the number of Indianapolis 500 entries supported by the manufacturer to 15, a record number of entries for Honda during years of manufacturer competition at the Speedway. The previous high total, 14 Honda-powered Indianapolis entries, was established in 2005, when the manufacturer was in competition with Chevrolet and Toyota.

"We're pleased to be able to renew our relationship with Bryan Herta and his team. Bryan has long been associated with Honda and HPD, and he served as our primary development driver during the last era of IndyCar manufacturer competition," said Steve Eriksen, vice president of HPD. "His team's victory in the 2011 Indianapolis 500 was the stuff of legend, and all of us at HPD and American Honda are delighted to have a hand in helping him defend that championship.

"Beyond that, we look forward to a successful partnership with Bryan Herta Autosport through the remainder of the 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series season."

"My time as a Honda driver in both the IndyCar Series, as well as the time spent driving factory Acura LMP2 in the American Le Mans Series, were among my most rewarding and memorable years in racing," Herta commented. "So, it is with great personal pleasure that we are returning to the Honda family for the remainder of the 2012 season. We look forward to joining the other Honda-powered teams on track this weekend in preparation for the 2012 Indianapolis 500, and working to defend last year's memorable and popular win by Dan Wheldon. I know that Alex Tagliani and the entire Team Barracuda - BHA crew are brimming with confidence and excitement going into the 'Month of May.' "

Honda has been a fixture in North American open-wheel racing since 1994, and has played an active role in the growth of the IZOD IndyCar Series - as both a Manufacturers' Championship competitor and single engine supplier - since joining the series in 2003.

The company scored its first Indianapolis 500 victory in 2004 with Buddy Rice; Manufacturers' Championships in 2004 and '05; and became engine supplier to the entire IZOD IndyCar Series in 2006.

Honda supplied racing engines to the full, 33-car Indianapolis 500 field every year from 2006-2011, and for a record-six consecutive years, the '500' has not seen a single engine failure. The 2010 Indianapolis 500, won by Dario Franchitti, marked Honda's 100th race win as a manufacturer and engine supplier in IZOD IndyCar Series competition.

Founded in 1993, Honda Performance Development (HPD) is the Honda racing company within North America. HPD is the technical operations center for high-performance Honda racing cars and engines and operates at race circuits around the world from its headquarters in Santa Clarita, California.

In addition to its efforts in Indy car racing, HPD spearheaded championship-winning efforts in the 2009-2010 American Le Mans Series, 2010 Le Mans Series and the 2010 24 Hours of Le Mans.

HPD offers a line of race engines for track applications from prototype sports cars to karting; for professional, amateur and entry-level efforts.

The Honda CR-Z rose to the top in the coupe category, recognized for offering best-in-class EPA fuel economy ratings, achieving the "Top Safety Pick" designation from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and offering reasonable maintenance and ownership costs.

Best Value automobiles offer the best financial value of all vehicles USAA evaluates as part of a broader rating system called USAA Preferred, which uses quantitative data to evaluate vehicles' cost, safety and reliability, among other key factors. There are nearly 80 cars, trucks and minivans that are currently designated as USAA Preferred vehicles, and the Best Value list represents the vehicles that rose to the top of each category.

"The CR-Z creates a whole new value category as the first true sport hybrid, offering great fuel economy, a low entry price, an available 6-speed manual transmission and a feisty change of character with the push of the Sport button," said Mike Accavitti, Vice President of National Marketing Operations for American Honda. "It's like having two cars for the price of one."

"The goal of the list is to help members identify vehicles that typically offer better safety ratings, lower insurance premium costs, higher fuel economy, better overall reliability and lower MSRP compared to other vehicles in the same category," said Steve Thompson, an assistant vice president at USAA. "The Honda CR-Z rose to the top as a vehicle that offers these key elements, making it a great buy for the value-minded consumer."

For more information about the USAA Best Value list, and the specific automobiles featured, visit www.usaa.com/bestvalue.

Connect with Honda:
Media Newsroom (for journalists): www.hondanews.com
For consumers: http://automobiles.honda.com
YouTube: www.youtube.com/honda
Flickr: www.flickr.com/hondanews
Twitter: www.twitter.com/honda
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Honda
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/honda/