HONDA CIVIC GETS A CLEANER DIESEL, BETTER RIDE Honda engineers have enhanced the ride quality of the new Civic, while retaining the sporty handling of the current model. The company hopes the improvement will boost flagging sales of the company’s second best-selling model in Europe after the Jazz. European sales of the Civic fell 27 percent to 26,387 in the first half, according to JATO Dynamics. The ninth-generation Civic will reach European showrooms in early 2012. The car keeps much of the styling of the outgoing model. Honda’s Japanese development team worked with European colleagues and external experts to enhance the five-door hatchback’s handling to cope with Europe’s varied road conditions that include fast highways, along with poorly surfaced country lanes. Initial testing for the model was carried out at Honda’s r&d facilities in Japan before the development team transferred to Europe to finalize the car. Said Kazuo Sunaoshi, chassis development leader: “Every time we visited Europe during the development of the car, we achieved significant improvements in the ride and handling, tuning the car for the local demands.” IAA 2011 POCKET GUIDE 35