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| New Manufacturing System Attributable to the Civic |
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The globalization of the Civic is closely associated with Honda’s progress in manufacturing processes. The New Mode Center, for example, was established in Tochigi Prefecture in 1997 to “develop high-quality production technology for automobiles.” It is charged with the task of improving the quality of automobiles produced at Honda’s facilities around the world. Planning of every Civic series since the seventh generation has been spearheaded by the Center, via computer-aided design on a global scale. With computeraided design technology, various processes including designing, simulations and production support are done digitally. Moreover, Honda’s production teams in various countries create prototype vehicles that reflect their respective market needs, in an effort to incorporate global production requirements into planning from the early design stage.
In 1998, Honda began implementing its New Manufacturing System. In September 2000, this innovation was extended to cover all major production facilities worldwide—a decision sparked by the rollout of the seventh-generation Civic at its Suzuka Plant. By making production equipment more flexible and standardizing assembly line processes, Honda built a production system capable of responding flexibly to changing markets while maintaining high levels of quality. It also enabled the Company to lower investment costs associated with the launch of new models.
In these ways, the Civic has continued to play a major role, not only in its performance as a product, but also in Honda’s advancement as a corporation, in such areas as the simultaneous development around the world of different body types, as well as new product development and manufacturing systems.
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| Technologies for the Society |
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Throughout its history, Honda has consistently incorporated the day’s most advanced, leading-edge technologies into its Civic models, opening up new frontiers for the compact car. The progress of the Civic is an exact parallel of Honda’s technological progress. This is a result of the Company’s willingness, since developing the firstgeneration Civic, to make available technologies that help society, in such areas as environmental protection and safety.
In 1998, Honda began making and selling the Civic GX, a compressed natural gas (CNG) powered vehicle, in the United States. In 2001, it began production and sales in Japan of the Civic Hybrid, which was subsequently sold overseas, first in North America and Europe, then throughout the world. In 2000, we completed construction of the world’s first indoor omni-directional vehicle-to-vehicle crash test facility, located in Tochigi Prefecture. Utilizing this facility for the seventhgeneration Civic, we achieved the Euro NCAP*5 four-star rating for passenger safety and a three-star rating for pedestrian safety—both landmarks for this class of car—earning the Civic a reputation as “the safest car in Europe.” In this way, the Civic has served as Honda’s flagship model, continuing to advance one step ahead of the expectations of society.
The sophistication of technologies incorporated into the Civic has been reflected in its reception of multiple awards in various nations. The Civic has received the Car of the Year Japan award on seven occasions. In 2000, Automotive Enginering International, the monthly publication of SAE International*6 , voted the 1974 Civic CVCC the Best Engineered Car of the 20th Century (1970s category), the only Japanese car to receive this honor. These and other awards are testimony to Honda’s high level of technological excellence and a great boost to the confidence of its development teams. |
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Euro NCAP (European New Car Assessment Program)
A government-backed testing center for automobile crashworthiness.
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| *6 |
SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers)
SAE was formed in 1905. Now called SAE International, it has approximately 80,000 individual members worldwide. In 2000, it conducted its Best Engineered Car of the 20th Century survey via its monthly publication, Automotive Enginering International , in which readers submitted their choices for the best engineered cars in each of the ten decades of the 20th century. V otes were based on three criteria: (1) “The car successfully introduced a new engineering system and/or solution that was subsequently adopted by others, either wholly or in part”; (2) “The car enjoyed exceptional longevity in the marketplace, thereby indicating and validating sound initial engineering capable of further development”; and (3) “The car achieved better performance than its contemporaries by virtue of the excellence of its engineering.” Honda’s Civic CVCC was voted the Best Engineered Car of the 20th Century in the 1970s category. |
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