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| Honda, as its approach to the remarkable improvement of fuel economy, has developed the VTEC mechanism that enables high fuel economy as well as high output, a hybrid car that achieves the world’s highest fuel economy, and the transmissions that enable the effective transmission of power. We also introduced new-generation “i-series” engines. In the 21st century, we will accelerate the development of environmental technologies to further reduce the emission of CO2 from vehicles. |
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Combust gasoline with no waste. Use the derived energy as
driving power to the greatest possible degree. These are the objectives that
every engine design pursues.
For example, the VTEC engine released in 1988 achieved high
power output and high fuel economy through the use of two alternate cams mounted
on a single camshaftóone for the high-speed range and the other for low-
and mid-speed ranges. Honda further improved the VTEC technology, and subsequently
in 1999 unveiled the i-VTEC engine as the most advanced VTEC engine. Through
technological renovation such as the sophistication of combustion controls by
an intelligent system and drastic downsizing (through lighter and more compact
design), we combined “higher fuel economy” and “cleaner exhaust
gas” with the “joy of driving” in a sophisticated manner. The “i” means “intelligent” and Honda named the series of these advanced VTEC engines “i-series” engines, including the 1.3-liter i-DSI engine* applied to the Fit in 2001; the V6 3.0-liter i-VTEC engine applied to the Inspire and the 2.0-liter DOHC i-VTEC engine applied to the Stream in 2003; and the 1.8-liter i-VTEC engine developed in 2005. We will replace engines in various classes with these “i-series” engines. |
* i-DSI : Inteligent Dual & Sequential
Ignition
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The efficient transmission of power generated by highly efficient engines contributes to greater fuel economy. Honda has therefore also been making efforts to improve power transmission efficiency. We equipped the 6th generation CIVIC released in 1995 with an innovative automatic transmission called “Honda Multimatic,” together with the 3-stage VTEC engine to greatly improve its fuel economy. Honda Multimatic is a continuously variable transmission composed of two of Honda’s own pulleys and a special metal belt. In 1998, we further developed the Honda Multimatic S, improving fuel economy compared with that of the Honda Multimatic by adopting the Prosmatic transmission control technology, which provides optimal gear change timing, by widening the pulleys, and by improving the precision of oil pressure control. We then applied the improved transmission to the HR-V. This transmission is also applied to the Fit, the Civic Hybrid, and the Mobilio. |
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In 1999, Honda developed a hybrid system to improve the fuel
economy of gasoline-powered vehicles to the utmost limit, and released the Insight,
in which the Honda integrated motor-assist (IMA) system was installed. The IMA
system uses a gasoline-powered engine as its primary power source and a motor
as an auxiliary power source. The Insight, with this system, runs 35 km (10·15
mode) on a liter of gas, which represents the world’s highest fuel economy
for a mass-production gasoline-powered vehicle.
Furthermore, we released the Civic Hybrid equipped with the new Honda IMA system and the Accord Hybrid, featuring a V6 engine and equipped with the Variable Cylinder Management System, in North America in 2001 and 2004, respectively. We also developed a new Honda hybrid system “3 stage i-VTEC + IMA” and applied it to the new Civic Hybrid released in the fall of 2005. We are thus applying higher fuel economy technologies to standard products and contributing to environmental improvement by providing “customer choice products” in various categories. Global sales of our hybrid vehicles reached 100,000 in April 2005. |
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