[sarathlal]

Honda Motor Co., Ltd. today announced a new design concept, "EXCITING H DESIGN!!!," that will be applied to all Honda automobiles globally to promote a more unique character and stronger presence around the world.



The three exclamation marks in "EXCITING H DESIGN!!!" represent three design factors, namely "High Tech." which represents an innovative spirit, "High Tension" which represents the pursuit of a beautiful body structure and layout, and "High Touch" which represents finely-honed surfacing and texture.



By incorporating these three factors into exterior and interior design, more unique and exciting Honda designs will be realized.

Exterior design:

• High Tech.

Honda's new design identity, "Solid Wing Face," is adopted. While positioning the "H" mark in the center, the area from the front grill to the headlights will be designed in an advanced style as one uninterrupted flow.

• High Tension

A well-toned body with beautiful proportion, "Athlete Form," is realized.

• High Touch

Honda strives to realize "Dramatic Surfacing," well-elaborated form that provides an emotional attraction.

Interior design:

• High Tech.

Honda pursues an easy-to-see/easy-to-use "Advanced Interface" by adopting advanced technologies.

• High Tension

A sporty and emotional "Personal Cockpit" is realized.

• High Touch

Honda expresses its "Craftsmanship" by creating thoughtful interiors with an emphasis on the texture of materials.

This new design concept has been first applied to the all-new Fit model, with the application to be expanded in stages to other Honda vehicles around the world.


Here is the official press release: http://www.scribd.com/doc/165906652/...-Press-Release

[vinair]

I really don't understand how these guys come up with such design philosophies!

For a common man, I really find it difficult to see a 'H' from any angle in the front design! And whats that High Tension and High Touch!!! man sounds like some phone company doing the talking!!

No doubt, I love Honda for its sheer engineering brilliance but their design philosophies sound really silly!!

[soonya]

The bumper is a flattened out H! High touch and High Tech - I guess the materials used inside the cabin is what is being referred to!

Well, every car company tries to give a uniqueness which can percolate in all their designs. For example their man maximum, machine minimum maxim was the philosophy of an earlier city design where they moved the inner cabin into the bonnet space! But people did not like it much though very functional!

Like the iconic Mustang kept its basic form recognizable even after so many avatars!

Otherwise how do you distinguish from a bunch of metal, glass and plastic from another? Especially the marketing folks would like something different in visible form so that they can charge a $ more!

It's a tough challenge for designers with the demands of aerodynamics all end up looking the same! But to their credit many designers could develop different looking stuff from others but a consistency among their own products. Early on when drag coefficient and efficiency emerged as a criterion, many cars looked almost alike! Tapering bonnets and the like.

Anyways, I personally prefer classic lines so that the product does not get boring after a few years. Excessive design tends to wear out soon. Hyundai is an example. Honda used to only stick to classic lines, but now-a-days I feel that they seem to resemble Korean cars. The latest Honda Accord in my view is a design disaster. It looks more Korean than Japanese.

[zalaps]

I find it good enough.
At least they are not joining band wagon of hexagonal & octagonals.

[Ford5]

Looks better than the vague beak all the Acura's have now.

[amolbh]

They should have gone the Chevrolet way. In TV serials whenever the logo is blurred, you can still identify it as a Chevrolet due to the twin grills.

Just blur the front monogram and no one can identify it as a Honda! IMO, they should have incorporated more changes into the body too (like Ford's lower part).

[sarathlal]

As we are keeping our eyes wide open for the new City, this is an excerpt directly from the designers behind the new Fit/Jazz (of which normally, City is the derivative), and the 'Exciting H' concept which is going to be the future of Honda's cars.



Jun Murakawa, exterior designer; and Yoshiya Kitajima, interior designer.

Transformation of the new Jazz from the older one, based the new design principle, in pictures;

HighTech - Solid Wing Face


HighTension - Athlete form


HighTouch - Dramatic surfacing




Honda-ism restarts from Jit/Jazz. Maybe for us, its from the new City.

Source: Honda

[swami.n]

The rear of the Fit/Jazz and the way its tail lamps are designed is just a blatant copy of the volvo XC 60 and they call it exciting design.

Probably the Volvo engineers may have to claim so

Pictures courtesy :
Volvo - Edmunds.com & carpages.co.uk
Honda - From above image

[RoadTrippin]

I don't get these design philosophies at all! But guess everyone needs to make a living!!

Will wait and see how they look on the road, although it's the mechanics under the hood that will be the winner eventually unless they make a terrible looking car.

[Parm]

Here in Dubai, UAE, the local dealer of Honda has already started offering discounts on the current Jazz, this is clearing of stock and means the new Jazz is round the corner.

[Superleggera]

It looks good, much better than Honda's current designs.

The problem (atleast to the customers) if manufacturer a follows a particular design pattern is that, every car or SUV will start looking more or less the same, except the size. There is nothing to "dream about" before they unveil the next generation of a car when another car with the same design pattern is already on roads.

To me, each car should have its own entity and it should look different from others by all means (As it how used to be - to some extend). I don't want my new Jetta to look like a bigger polo and new Passat look like a bigger Jetta.

Examples

Nissan : Sentra, Altima, Maxima - All looks same
Hyundai : Accent, Elantra, Sonata - All looks same
Toyota - Corolla, Camry, and Avalon - All looks same

[motomaverick]

Nice to see that Honda has finalized a design concept, I guess it was required seeing other manufacturers namely Hyundai having success with their fluidic design irrespective of whether their cars look more or less alike. At the end of the day its the money that counts. I don't understand why folks go gaga with supercar makers when most of their designs and variants looks more or less similar, example is Lambo and shower brickbats to people movers like Honda or Hyundai.

[wilful]

The new Jazz/Fit looks pretty good.
Interesting the way designers try to articulate their ideas. Unless one reads what they had in mind originally, it is impossible to decipher what was actually intended to be conveyed. Always brings to mind my feeble efforts at trying to understand abstract art.

[blacksport]

Look at the heavily finished grille of the Jazz/Fit. Looks like, they ran out of ideas, and decided to compensate with makeup. Too many lines, cuts and creases. Why can't they keep things simple?

For example, the Polo, however plain it might look, even after two decades, would definitely look handsome.

[penpavan]

I liked the idea. I had liked the arrow shot philosophy of the current gen City.
These design philosophies do give a personality to the cars, they must be followed strictly, as Hyundai are doing now.