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Posts Tagged ‘Honda’

The Automotive Hall of Fame was originally founded on October 18, 1939 in New York City by a group of men that had devoted their lives to the automotive industry. They met in New York City with the intention of creating an organization that would forever perpetuate the memories of the early automotive pioneers as well as the leaders in the industry at the time. The original organization was known as the ‘Automobile Old Timers’ and has since had its name changed to the Automotive Hall of Fame. The organization is dedicated to honoring automotive people from all of the industries segments and from around the world.

The Automotive Hall of Fame was originally based in Washington D.C. but has since moved and made its permanent home in Midland, Michigan. Midland is roughly 120 miles out of Detroit, the hub of the automotive world in the United States. The organization moved to D.C. in 1960 and then left for Midland in 1971. The first Automotive Hall of Fame building was constructed in Midland, Michigan in 1975.

After 22 years in Midland, the Automotive Hall of Fame decided to move once again. This time, in 1997, the organization moved to Dearborn, Michigan. Since its inception over 60 years ago, the Automotive Hall of Fame has enshrined over 200 members that include pioneers from Benz, Bosch, Bugatti, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Citroen, Daimler, Dodge, Durant, Duryea, Ferrari, Ford, Honda, Maybach, Olds, Peugeot, Porsche, Renault, Sloan and Toyoda. The Automotive Hall of Fame welcomes nearly 30,000 visitors on a yearly basis.

There are four categories recognized by the Automotive Hall of Fame. Those four categories are induction, the distinguished service citation, the industry leader of the year, and the young leadership and excellence award. To become an inducted member in the Automotive Hall of Fame that person must either be retired from the industry or deceased. The Hall of Fame’s standards say that that person “must have significantly impacted the development of the automobile or the motor vehicle industry.” Usually there are anywhere from four to eight members inducted each year.
The distinguished service citation is the organization’s oldest award and was initiated in 1940. To win this award, one must either be employed in the industry or recently retired. Anywhere from five to six people are given this award each year. The industry leader of the year award is given to one individual each year that demonstrates outstanding industry leadership. The fourth award, the young leadership and excellence award, is awarded to people in the industry 35 years or younger. The award is given out annually and is awarded to only four people. The purpose of the award is to recognize the future of the industry and its next generation of leadership within the industry.

Anyone can nominate candidates for each award by simply logging onto the Automotive Hall of Fame’s website. The Automotive Hall of Fame is operated by a Board of Directors currently headed by Chairman Jason Vines who is the Senior Vice President of Communications for the Compuware Corporation. There are also two vice chairmen, a treasurer, a secretary, executive directors, a president, directors, and directors emeriti.

It is no surprise that amidst the increasingly larger hikes in fuel prices driven by the fact that the planet’s supply of petroleum is dissipating, the automotive industry is feeling the pinch more than any other. With many companies falling or are already fallen, the surviving ones are now wisely channeling their resources in developing vehicles which run on alternative fuel and the most popular choice is clearly the hybrid.

Hybrids are the first forms of cars to battle the ongoing fuel crisis. Evidently, the name which pops up anywhere across the world when the term hybrid is brought up is the Toyota Prius. This is mainly because the Prius was the first hybrid vehicle to be built in masses as they have proven among all the other alternative fuel concepts during the late 90s and early years of the new millennium to be the most practical and applicable in real world situations. Basically, hybrids are cars which run on the usual gasoline with the difference being the addition of an extra fuel supply, most commonly in the form of electricity which gets supplied from battery cells. While the Prius has been dominating over all these years, many other hybrids are available on the road today but one of the most notable cars in this segment is the upcoming second generation of Honda’s Insight, a hybrid car designed and engineered specifically to go up against the Prius in a blatant one on one.

While the idea of electric cars have always been a point of discussion but not so in application due to cost and practicality issues, they are hitting the roads lately and one of the one model swarming roads the most across the globe is possibly the Reva G-Whiz. Being under lots of controversy in the automotive industry due to its minimalist nature which is considered unsafe and not up to the standards of being a car, this tiny two-seater from India is in fact labeled as a quadtricycle in markets like the UK’s. On a more fast and furious note, the Tesla Roadster, an electric sports car borrowing the body of Lotus’ well-proven Elise’. While this car is earning rave reviews for its performance despite its electric underpinnings, many are expressing their doubts over the durability and sustainability of the electric cells that power not only the Tesla, but other electric vehicles alike.

Over the years, there have been debates about hybrids not being as good as people are made to think and the technology of electric cars as yet being simply impractical for normal usage. Diesel cars have gained in popularity due to this combined with rising prices at the pumps as cars such as Volkswagen’s entry level green car, the Polo Bluemotion, has on many tests and occasions proved that it can easily dwarf the mpg ratings of a Toyota Prius. Electric vehicles cannot be considered as economical or environmental either as most of our electricity supply comes from plants which burn petroleum to generate the electricity as well.

With ever changing takes on alternative fuel, Honda has made a breakthrough of late, introducing the Honda FCX Clarity, a car which runs of hydrogen and with the debates still going strong on alternative fuel vehicles, the technology Honda is implementing here might be the most significant yet in this battle as hydrogen is unlike the rest, an element which is never likely to run out. Only the world of tomorrow shall tell.