Honda CR-V is ‘Honestly’ the Most Popular 4x4

The British built Honda CR-V has fought off fierce competition to be crowned Most Popular 4x4 by expert motoring website honestjohn.co.uk. The CR-V came out on top as Google Analytics data, which analysed the number of page views for each car over the last 12 months, recognised it as the most searched for 4x4 on the site. The reliability and robustness of this British built model are just some of the qualities why users are regularly searching for this car.

This is the second recognition Honda has received recently from honestjohn.co.uk after being rated as a top three performer in their analysis of MoT pass rates earlier this month.

“There has been a significant increase in traffic to the CR-V review and in such a tight category with plenty of popular models, it’s done well to come out on top” said Dan Harrison, Editor of honestjohn.co.uk. “It’s rare to see increased traffic for a model that’s soon to be refreshed, but the current model CR-V continually drives high traffic for the 4x4 reviews. That said, we’ve already seen plenty of interest in search from users, months ahead of the official launch of the new model.”

Dave Hodgetts, Managing Director of Honda (UK) commented: “It’s great to see honestjohn.co.uk visitors are showing such support for the CR-V and have already begun creating a buzz around the fourth generation model coming out later this year.”


Spacious, versatile and comfortable, these are just some of the qualities that highlight why the CR-V has generated such interest online. The CR-V is available from £23,030 OTR and now couldn’t be a better time to get behind the wheel as customers purchasing a CR-V in SE+ specification will be upgraded to the ES-T variant. This means the addition of £2,490 worth of extra equipment including 18” alloy wheels, half leather/half alcantara upholstery, heated front seats, retractable wing mirrors, iPod connectivity and Satellite Navigation with Hands Free Telephone system, all completely free of charge.

Customers looking for that added luxury and opting for the ES-T specification will automatically receive a complimentary upgrade to EX trim. This means the addition of premium audio, full leather upholstery, panoramic roof, HID lights, auto lights and wipers, full body coloured bumpers and eight way power assisted driver seat – worth a total of £2,520. The model is also available with a range of flexible finance packages and low cost service options to help drive down ownership costs.

Labels: CR-V, Honda 4x4

Honda is a Top Three Performer in honestjohn.co.uk Nationwide MoT Pass Rates


The analysis of 24.5 million MoT records obtained by honestjohn.co.uk, revealed that an average of 86 per cent of Honda cars registered in 2008 passed their first MoT, against a national average of 80 per cent.

Notable amongst the Honda successes was the British built CRV, scoring an impressive 89 per cent and demonstrating once again that the workforce in Swindon can match the build quality of any Japanese manufacturing plant.

Dave Hodgetts, Managing Director of Honda UK said ‘it’s great to see that all three of Honda’s British built cars, the CR-V, Civic and Jazz have outperformed the national average. The highly skilled workforce at our plant in Swindon, should take great pride in these results as it shows that they are producing high quality, reliable products’

The research by honestjohn.co.uk involved examining tens of millions of records obtained from the Vehicle Operator and Services Agency (VOSA) through the Government’s OpenData scheme. Now honestjohn.co.uk is publishing it as The MoT Files at honestjohn.co.uk/mot – the first time this information has ever been available to the public in such detail.
The table below shows how the Honda models stack up:

Make	Model	Year	Tests	Pass Rate
Honda	S2000	2008	343	89%
Honda	CR-V	2008	12618	88%
Honda	Legend	2008	128	88%
Honda	Jazz	2008	21293	85%
Honda	Civic	2008	29557	84%
Honda	Accord	2008	5166	83%
Honda	FR-V	2008	2098	83%

Labels: Honda Accord, Honda Civic, Honda CR-V, Honda FR-V, Honda Jazz, Honda Legend, Honda S2000

Honda celebrates 500 new employees starting work as Swindon Plant introduces second shift

There were celebrations today at Honda of the UK Manufacturing Ltd (HUM) in Swindon as they introduced a second shift within their Car Plant 2 facility. As announced in December 2011, 500 new Associates were being recruited and today, they began their new roles within the Plant. This brings the total number of employees at HUM to 3,500, with the production volume forecast to double to 180,000 units in 2012.

Speaking in December, Honda Motor Europe President Manabu Nishimae said Honda remained totally committed to building cars and engines in Europe with Swindon at the heart of Honda's European manufacturing activities. This move to a two shift pattern on Line 2 represents a further step in HUM’s increased production activity, and coincides with growing demand for Honda’s new Civic family hatchback.

HUM Director, Andy Piatek commented, “I am delighted to welcome our new Associates. At HUM we are proud of the skills of our workforce and the quality and reliability of the products we build.”

New Honda Associate, Dan Smith, spoke about his excitement at starting work at Honda, “I am really looking forward to building the new Civic here at HUM. Over the past few months we have been through all kinds of training and now it’s finally time to get started!”

In addition to the new Civic and the successful Jazz, 2012 will also see the mass production launch of the new European CR-V and the introduction of a new small diesel engine, both of which will be produced at HUM.