Japanese Car Guide

If there is a component of a car that is not in good condition, the risk of accident is high. It is therefore a must for people who buy a car to double-check each car part for possible damage or defect. Just like what happened to Honda’s Accord model units that have been recalled recently.

LeftlaneNews.com reports that Honda has announced a recall of 353,000 units of Accord due to a possible corrosion threat in the windshield wiper system. If undiscovered, the defect could result in water entering the area of the windshield wiper motor that could cause corrosion and failure of the motor.

Honda dealers were tasked to inspect the vehicle for the presence of such a defect. If corrosion is found, the car will be replaced automatically.

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This is good news to Japanese car fans in Europe. Autoweek.com reports
that Nissan’s latest Qashqai model, the seven-seater kind, will be unveiled at the London Motor Show slated in July.

Nissan’s seven-seater Qashqai has the same powertrain with the other Qashqai models. Adjustments were made to the suspension and steering to accommodate the excess weight. It also comes with standard equipment such as roof rails and tinted rear windows, among others.

Sale of Qashqai in Europe starts in October while it is not sure when it will be coming to the United States. Customers will have two diesel and two gasoline engine choices for the car. Of course, expect to pay more since this is bigger and longer than the conventional five-seater Qashqai available in the market.

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Autoblog.com reports that Honda has won the 51st International ‘Red Dot’ Award. The award ceremony will take place on June 23 at Zentrum Nordrhein Westfalen in Germany.

The ‘Red Dot’ is one of the most prestigious and highly-coveted awards for cars. It is impressive to know that among the over 3,000 entries, Honda Accord Tourer has emerged the victor after wowing the international jury with its overall high quality designs.

Congratulations to Honda for winning yet another ‘Red Dot’ award, it’s third actually after bagging the same for its Honda 2000 in 2001 and Honda Civic in 2006. Having won the ‘Red Do’t three times is simply remarkable of Honda. This will surely add another feather to its glittering cap.

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All in all, Suzuki has three Kizashi car concepts. The first Kizashi concept was shown at the 2007 Frankfurt Motor Show. The second Kizashi concept, which was hipper than the first, was unveiled at the Tokyo Motor Show last year. Now comes the final Kizashi concept that is more luxurious than its predecessors. Or so the exteriors show.

The Kizashi 3 concept was developed at Suzuki’s Advanced Design Studio in Japan. CarDesignNews.com shares that it measures 4,650mm long, 1,900mm wide and 1,450mm high. It has imposing grille and nice headlamps and taillamps.

The production target for the Kizashi3 concept has not been announced yet, but I bet it will get a huge following. I personally like its exteriors. If reinforced by a good set of engines and some high-tech features, this is going to be a top performer.

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It seems like the automotive industry is weakening over time. Reports of sales drops are usual nowadays, especially in the United States where the economy has slowed down. Autoweek.com reports that March auto sales have gone down by 12.0 percent to 1.36 million vehicles.

Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. is among the decliners in this unfavorable situation with a 10.3 percent drop in sales last month. The plunge has prompted Toyota officials to revise its 2008 sales forecast. While Toyota performed poorly with its trucks and SUVs, it did well with its cars such as Camry and Prius that registered good sales.

If we’ll try to look at the bright side of things, we could see that Toyota is just slightly affected here. First, its cars are selling. Second, its truck and SUV problems are also problems of the rest of automakers. So I guess there’s really not much to worry about. They could always make up for the lost with a new marketing approach, anyway.

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