4Gen CR-V to debut in Japan Dec 2nd

Following the U.S launch, the new 4Gen CR-V will debut in the JDM end of this week, on December 2nd 2011. The JDM model features a 2.0l version in addition to the 2.4l version of the U.S. model. This new 2.0l  version comes in FWD and is mated to a CVT/MMT gearbox which is also equipped with a torque converter. For the JDM, the 2.4l version offers 10kW or 20ps higher power and comes with a 5AT.

For Asia, the JDM 2.0l version will form the basis for our model. However, its launch schedule is expected to be delayed and much depends on the progress Honda makes in recovering their research facility at Ayutthaya Thailand.

For more details of the JDM CR-V, read the article at Honda's worldwide website:

http://world.honda.com/news/2011/4111128All-New-CR-V/index.html

Case Study : How accurate are scoops ?

Scoops of information and especially photos of new to be launched cars are the 'in' thing amongst automotive media fighting to be recognized as 'The' media to go to for information nowadays. In Japan, there are even magazines dedicated to scoops only. Amongst these, Mag-X (of Japan) has from my experience been one of the most accurate in terms of rendering of new models. Their rendering of the original 2001 Honda City was so uncanny that my 'friend' told me he personally was shocked at the almost spot-on accuracy of the rendering except for the exaggerated height (which I found out during the actual launch to be true).  Later, Mag-X was also spot on for the previous 8Gen Civic. 

On March 5th this year (2010), japanese 'scoop' site Autoten.com published a post showing the then latest scoop rendering of the new 4Gen CR-V by Mag-X. The link to that article is http://autoten.com/2010/03/05/2011-new-honda-cr-v-codename-2ws-rendering-and-specification/.

Today of course this new 4Gen CR-V has just been launched at the Los Angeles Motor Show in the U.S. for the U.S. The CR-V is one of Honda's 'global' model, so what we see in the U.S. is virtually identical except for minor details, to elsewhere in the world. 

And so a thought occurred to me. This would be a good opportunity to compare the accuracy of scoop renderings by scoops specialist publications like Autoten and Mag-X. We have the rendering of the new 4Gen CR-V from March. We now have photos of the actual 4Gen CR-V. So how near or how far apart are they ? 

Below on the right is the photo of the Mag-X magazine taken from the Autoten website. On the left is an official photo of the 4Gen CR-V from the AHM photo-pack. I chose the photo with a viewing angle as close to the Mag-X rendering as possible. 

Comparing the two, it can be seen that the grill of the rendering is off compared to the grill on the actual car. But the shape and profile of the headlights and the side windows are nearly spot on. In fact, the overall rendering is quite accurate when compared to the actual car. So considering that the rendering was probably made from verbal descriptions from 'insiders' to Mag-X, we can actually see that it is quite a good representation of the car.

New CR-V launched in the U.S.

With apologies for the delay notification, we (TOV) have complete coverage of the launch of the new 4Gen CR-V at the Auto Angeles Motor Show in the U.S. Along with this launch, we have now published 3 articles which we have been putting on hold due to the embargo imposed by Honda before the launch.

Briefly, the new 4Gen CR-V is more of an evolution of the outgoing 3Gen model. The single engine variant continues to be the 2.4l K24 DOHC i-VTEC engine now giving 185hp and 163lbft (about 22.4kgm) of torque. This is 5hp higher than the old model. The transmission continues to be a 5AT only. The model comes with either FWD or real-time 4WD (called real time ALL Wheel Drive by AHM). 

Our coverage of this FMC is spread out over 4 articles, according to the links below:

1. Honda press release of the new 4Gen CR-V 

http://www.vtec.net/news/news-item?news_item_id=1014380

Embargo'ed articles now published includes:

2. Photo gallery of the new 4Gen CR-V

http://www.vtec.net/articles/view-article?article_id=1014330

 

3. Exclusive ! TOV Video for the 'walkaround' and demonstration of new features

http://www.vtec.net/articles/view-article?article_id=1014419

4. Exclusive ! TOV Video for 'First-Drive' impressions

http://www.vtec.net/articles/view-article?article_id=1014411

 

Photos of production CR-V

Famous scoopers Brenda Priddy & Co. has now caught photos of actual production version of the new 4Gen CR-V which the Autoblog website has purchased and published. The photos were taken during the pre-launch media drive event, which was also attended by TOV. However, details from that event are under embargo which is why TOV hasn't published anything about it. This new 4Gen CR-V will be launched in the U.S. next week at the L.A. Auto Show. As confirmed at the TOV forums earlier, it will go on sale on December this year. The photo above was taken from the autoblog website. For more photos and the autoblog story, the link to go to is : http://www.autoblog.com/photos/2012-honda-cr-v-spy-shots-2/med/#photo-4600879/

Confirmed : Honda CR-V to be launched ON SCHEDULE in Decemeber for the U.S.A.

At our TOV forums, there are now confirmations from dealers that their stocks of the new 4G CR-V are en-route. This directly confirms that for the U.S. at least, the launch of the new CR-V will be on schedule, in the month of December (next month). 

What about Asia ? The flood situation in Thailand is definitely affecting all asian models. Initially it was revealed that there will be an MMC for the City next month and the new 9G Civic and 4G CR-V will debut in Asia early next year.

But, with the Honda facilities in Thailand now under more than 2 metres of water, it is a certainty that all activities related to asian models will be delayed. 

In fact the delays are affecting not only the new models but even productions of current models. Mr Yoichiro Ueno, CEO of Honda Malaysia has said that current stock are only enough for them to maintain supply till the end of this month. Thereafter, the Melaka factory will stop operations due to unavailability of critical components. 

Honda's first priority at the moment is to ensure that their employees are safe from any ill effects of the flood. Next would be to help ensure their suppliers are safe as well. There will be no layoffs but contracts for some short term employees will not be renewed as obviously there are no need for their services (the non renewal of short-term contracts is a normal thing in all industries. Everyone who accepts a short-term contracts knows this well and this renewal should not be twisted into a 'Honda is laying off people' rumour). 

Honda will try to source for parts from other places outside of Thailand but there are some critical items which is only available from Thailand. And at the moment, the flood is not only not showing signs of receding, it is in fact threatening parts of central Bangkok itself. Nevertheless, a friend who recently stopped over at Bangkok for his holiday at Bhutan, told me that once again, all the stories about Thailand seemingly drowning are partially exaggerations are over-hyped. He said that while there are indeed lots of dire concerns, life in Bangkok and many parts of Thailand are still going on as normal.

Things are still very uncertain at this moment and if I get any news, I will update here once I know of them.

New INTERIOR spy shots of 4Gen CR-V !

China's China Car Times, published spy photos of the new 4Gen CR-V, the photos picked up and then re-published (with full credits given) by Australia's caradvice.com.au website. These shots are the first known proper shots of the interior of the new CR-V in very high detail. More importantly for asian Honda fans, these photos are also indicative of the asian market CR-V which is expected to debut starting from early next year (2012).

The interior photos reveals a general evolution of the current CR-V. A close up photo of the dashboard with a tacho that redlines at 6,600rpm, same as the current generation, suggests that the R20A engine will continue to be used in the new CR-V. The center mounted gearshift layout is retained and the steering wheel continues to be devoid of paddles so the CR-V will continue on without a sequential manual shift override option (which can be useful on certain occasions, when the CR-V is fully loaded). Interestingly there is a 'START' button feature.

The australian website link is http://www.caradvice.com.au/132257/2012-honda-cr-v-interior-and-exterior-spy-shots/. The photo above is taken from the website.

4Gen CR-V Concept Public Debut

The new 4Gen Honda CR-V Concept made its public debut at the Orange County International Auto Show in Anaheim, California U.S.A. The actual model will debut at the Los Angeles Motor Show in November this year and will go on sale in the U.S. at the end of this year. Thereafter it should start showing up in the rest of the world. For ASEAN, it is supposed to be launched somewhere in the 2nd quarter of next year (2012), probably the latter part of the quarter. Along with the concept, Honda has talked about a more fuel efficient (but not new) engine plus reduced body weight. Honda has also provided a video for the concept and the press photos plus this video can be seen at our news and rumours section.

New 4Gen CR-V fully revealed !

A very sharp eye'ed reader and a very net-savvy TOV 'head' led us to the discovery of pictures of the new 4Gen CR-V on an european patent website. Apparently Honda has filed patents in Europe for the 4Gen CR-V and thanks to a lead from TOV reader Frank Opperman, TOV 'head' Jeff Palmer found computer generated 3D diagrams of the 4Gen CR-V on the website.

These diagrams more or less shows exactly how the new CR-V will look like. The computer graphic above is one of the diagrams and there are five more, from all angles of the car, available at our news and rumours article here.

New engine for US CR-V

Information from the Automotive News website is supporting rumours of a new engine to debut with the new 4Gen CR-V for the US market. This new engine is given the code 'K25' by the AN website which goes on to quote a specification of 201hp at 5,500rpm and a max torque of 170lbft (about 23kgm). Transmission is widely expected to remain unchanged with the current 5AT. The relevant news and rumours article in our site regarding this rumour is at http://www.vtec.net/news/news-item?news_item_id=1002394. The graphic above is taken from the AN website.

Note that this engine is unlikely to make it to Asia, given that we don't even have a K24 CR-V over here in most parts of the region. It is likely that the new 4Gen CR-V for Asia will continue to use the R20A engine though it is not known if it will retain the current i-VTEC implementation (to reduce pumping loss through the intake mainfold) or a revised one like the R18A on the new 9Gen USDM Civic.

4G CR-V expected to debut in the U.S. in November

From posting in our TOV forums by Honda dealers in the U.S., it is generally believed that the new 4th Gen CR-V will debut in the U.S. as a 2012 model somewhere in November perhaps latest December of this year. What prompted several dealers to believe the launch is impending is the online order database called MOVE and the fact that orders are accepted only up to around November of this year. Another well connected Honda salesperson posted about his frustration getting advance info on the new CR-V, noting that except for features like USB, Bluetooth and iMid, he has been unable to get any indication of engine or transmission specs, something he could get hints about for other models.

The US launch date of November-December 2011 for the new 4Gen CR-V do jive with the insider info given to Tova-Honda-Fan by one of our readers, that the 4G CR-V will probably launch here around the 2nd quarter time frame of next year. It also tallies with the subtle body and unspoken verbal language from my 'friends' when I last talked to them about this new CR-V for Malaysia and ASEAN in general.

Note that the photo above is an official photo supplied by AHM for the 'concept' 4Gen CR-V which is believed to be very close to the actual production model.

Update : latest posts in the TOV forums supports the suggestion of a December launch date for the US 4Gen '2012' CR-V. The main debate now centers on the engine and transmission specifications.