A tribute to the past, the present, and the future — that is how to best summarize the opening program of the Honda pavilion at the 44th Tokyo Motor Show, held on October 28, 2015 at the held at the Tokyo Big Sight in Ariake, Koto-ku, Tokyo, Japan. No less than Honda Motor president and CEO Takahiro Hachigo welcomed the crowd to the biggest display area in the biennial event. Honda’s global brand slogan “The Power of Dreams” was the concept for the integrated booth that showcased their four-, three-, and two-wheel offerings, as well as Honda’s generator business, and other products unique to their brand.
“When I became president of Honda, one of the themes I set in our pursuit of a new Honda is the “Continuous development of challenging products unique to Honda and delivering them to our customers around the world.” Today, I am pleased to be here to introduce challenging mobility products filled with the unique characteristics of Honda,” said Hachigo.
Sharing center stage and juxtaposed with the state of the art machines was Honda’s original Super Cub. First offered in 1958 as a new mobility product, the Super Cub can be described as the origin of Honda mobility.
First to be introduced in the four-wheel segment was the all-new NSX supercar that combines excellent driving dynamics with environmental sustainability. The all-new NSX features a new direct-injection twin-turbo VTEC V6 engine, vertically mounted on a lightweight vehicle body. It has a mid-ship layout together with a highly efficient and high-output Sport Hybrid SH-AWD (Super Handling – All Wheel Drive) hybrid system. This system enables both outstanding driving performance and fuel economy. The all-new NSX is scheduled to begin production in North America in Q2 of next year. After the start of sales there, it will eventually be introduced to other markets, including Japan. 
Next up was the very popular Civic Type R. “I would say that this Civic Type R is the sports model that most expresses what only Honda can do, because it was created by pouring all of Honda’s sports DNA into a popular mass-market model, the Honda Civic. Especially, this all-new model was developed with a goal to create the ‘best Civic Type R model ever,’” said Hachigo. Honda is initially offering only 750 units of the Type R in Japan with a price tag of 4.28M Yen. 
The last, and arguably the most significant to be launched was the all-new Clarity Fuel Cell FCV sedan that is set to go on sale in Japan in March of 2016, and subsequently, in the US and European markets. This is the world’s first production model of a FCV. “By installing a downsized FC powertrain under the hood, we realized a cabin that accommodates 5 people as comfortably as the cabin of a regular gasoline-powered sedan model. Moreover, this model features a cruising range of more than 700km, which is top-class range among all FCVs, and exhilarating driving made possible by the motor drive,” said Hachigo.
“Honda also strives to link this Clarity Fuel Cell to the establishment of a society where people “generate” and “use” hydrogen energy and “get connected” for energy by combining it with a smart hydrogen station and external power feeding device. Our external power feeding device, the Power Exporter 9000, has a capacity to feed approximately seven-days’ worth of electricity for an average household. The Power Exporter 9000 is scheduled to go on sale at the same time as the Clarity Fuel Cell,” he added.
For his part, Honda Cars Philippines, Inc. (HCPI) president Toshio Kuwahara said “Although none of the featured vehicles are for the Philippine market, we still benefit from the R&D and some of the components from the featured vehicles.” One of these components that we hope lands on our shores soon is Honda’s 1.5-liter turbo engine. Other cars on display at the Honda pavilion included the Legend, the Odyssey Hybrid, the CR-Z, and the JDM-only S660 and N-Box.
