Danica Patrick, who races for the Honda-powered Andretti-Green IRL team, has spoken of wanting to make the jump to the world's premier form of motorsport, Formula 1. Later this year, according to Honda F1 CEO Nick Fry, the team is going to give her that chance. Danica will be put into Honda's Earth Dreams F1 car in November, probably at the Barcelona or Jerez tracks in Spain, for a full-scale test. Said Fry, "We will put her into our car after the season at the latest and see how quick she is."

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For the upcoming G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit in northern Japan in early July, a lot of advanced technology vehicles will be on display and used to move officials and dignitaries (oh, and media representatives) around. Honda is the latest to announce their starting lineup, and it includes the hydrogen fuel cell-powered FCX Clarity (above) and nine Civic hybrids. Don't care about Honda's wheeled inventions? Then spend time with ASIMO humanoid robot and some CIGS thin solar cells, both of which will be at the Environmental Showcase during the summit. More details on these two items after the jump.

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Although it doesn't look as we are going to see it Stateside, Honda has launched a Japanese minivan based on the Honda Fit platform. It's called Freed and in just 4.2 meters (165 inches) we can carry a complete family using a 1.5-liter unit mated to a CVT transmission that manages to get fuel consumption levels of about 6 l/100 km (39 mpg U. S.). The Freed got the fuel tank moved to the vehicle floor to give the interior as much room as possible and the rear doors are electric. Honda expects to sell about 4,000 units per month at a price between ¥1,639,000 and ¥2,215,000. The name comes as an abbreviation of "Freedom to create the perfect lifestyle." But of course.

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Many folks consult their best friend before making a big purchase. Since the dog is known as man's best friend, owners tend to cater towards their pets when buying a new car. In the United States, that means dog lovers often end up with trucks, SUVs or crossovers. However, in Japan, efficient use of space is a bit more of a priority. That is why Honda Japan developed the Honda Dog website. It all started with the Honda Vamos Dog Edition, but has since expanded to include other offerings. While the site features Honda's pet friendly accessories such as strap-in carriers and mats, it also shows how easily your Corgi will fit into your Fit.

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We're fans of the Honda Ruckus here at AutoblogGreen, as its 50cc four stroke engine combines excellent fuel economy and fairly low emissions. With its cool urban-destroyer styling, knobby tires and ample storage space, the Ruckus makes both a cool vehicle on which to chart out unknown territory and an excellent little runabout. There are plenty of ways to lower the fuel efficiency of the little engine, but few of them make as loud a statement as adding a jet turbine to the back shelf. Sound crazy? Absolutely, but that didn't stop at least one enterprising person from accomplishing the feat.

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Honda has been producing V6 engines with Variable Cylinder Management for their line of automobiles and minivans for the past few years. Consumers can see a fuel savings of around ten percent when the engine is allowed to switch between six, four or even just three of its cylinders. According to Honda President and CEO Takeo Fukui, the company has plans to begin introducing its Variable Cylinder Management technology to its line of motorcycles beginning in 2010. Another possible fuel and emissions-savings technology will appear on every one of its bikes at the end of that same year in the form of Programmed Fuel Injection. No Honda motorcycles will be equipped with old-school carburetors any longer. Honda has been producing motorcycles with its VTEC system for some time now.

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Hyundai has big plans for its luxury Genesis sedan, and the Korean automaker is willing to pony up $80m to get the word out. Rich appointments, rear-wheel-drive, a choice of powerful engines, and a starting price of $30k is a good story to sell customers on, and the Genesis sedan is being looked at as the halo car in Hyundai's lineup. That helps justify spending the most launch money on any Hyundai ever, even though only 30,000 Genesis sedans are scheduled to be sold per year. Genesis marketing begins with a 15-city tour involving about 100 sedans, and will include television ads plus the Internet and plenty of viral events.

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Honda is now in its third season as the sole supplier of engines for the IndyCar series, and it has decided to re-up for another five years. Honda originally jumped into IndyCar from the now-departed Champ Cars in 2003, and at that time, the H was still competing with Toyota and General Motors. The other two manufacturers eventually dropped out, leaving Honda to supply the whole field.

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Honda has just announced details of the leasing program for the new FCX Clarity fuel cell car that was unveiled at the LA Auto Show last November. The Clarity will be the first series "production" fuel cell vehicle available for lease to retail customers and the first examples will be delivered in July of this year. American Honda expects to lease about 200 Claritys during the first three years of the program. Right now, Honda is filtering through the 50,000 people that have shown interest in the lease program. The majority of those people who will be ruled ineligible because they don't live within range of a hydrogen filling station in the Los Angeles area.

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We've sampled several of the European spec diesel models from the Bosch demonstration fleet over the last year and have some more cool tests coming soon. One example that we haven't tried out is the 2007 Honda Accord. The Accord in question is the European model which is smaller than the American market car. This car is available in the U.S. badged as the Acura TSX. However, to date no TSX has been offered with a diesel engine. That will probably change early in 2009 when the TSX is expected to become home to a new 2.2L diesel that Acura displayed at the Detroit Auto Show last January.

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In March of this year, Honda sent a letter to certain members of its dealer network letting them know they needed to make changes to their stores. With so many Hondas leaving showroom floors, dealers are doing all right on the sales side, but some aren't performing to Honda's standards on the maintenance side, with waits of up to three weeks to get your Honda serviced.

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Honda has finally issued a TSB on the third gear issue that's been plaguing everything from the Civic Si to the Acura TL. According to affected owners, when the manual transmission was in third gear, it would occasionally pop into neutral and occasionally grind into place. Honda originally didn't recognize the problem and still isn't issuing a recall, but they have put out a TSB and are offering to correct the problem free of charge to owners who take their vehicle into a dealership.

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Every time someone asks us what compact car they should by, we always recommend to get behind the wheel of the Fit for a test drive. The car is small but big enough to fit 4-5 passengers pretty comfortably.

But what if you wanted to fit in more than 5 passengers. We’re talking somewhere along the lines of 8-passengers. If Le Auto Blog is right, Honda is thinking something along the same lines and is planning a 8-seater based on the Honda Fit called the Freed.

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Honda has given us the first taste of its new budget brand with the unveiling of an unnamed hatchback concept at this weekend’s Beijing Motor Show. The new brand is designed along the lines of Toyota’s Scion sub-brand and will be testing the waters in emerging markets such as China and India before launching in more established markets.

Honda is yet to pick an official name of the new brand but it’s currently carrying the title ‘Li Nian’ (Chinese for ‘subject’). The sub-brand will be characterized as a separate division of Honda, similar to Acura, but at the cheaper end of the automotive spectrum, reports AutoWeek.

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Honda’s new NSX is finished and will spearhead the European launch of the Acura brand when it goes into production in autumn 2010.

That’s the word from Autocar’s sources inside Honda Japan, who have confirmed that the front-engined V10 supercar will be unveiled at next year’s Tokyo show and will be followed by a new range of rear-wheel-drive Acura sports saloons.

We can also reveal that the controversial looks of the NSX concept model have been overhauled since its debut at the 2007 Detroit show. The long nose has been completely redesigned.

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