Honda Motor’s Legend, its newest luxury sedan, has received the Japanese auto industry’s Car of the Year award for ’04-05, Japan’s third-biggest auto maker said on Thursday.
The Legend also picked up the Most Advanced Technology award for its high-tech features, including the Super Handling All-Wheel-Drive system, which Honda has said was the world’s first to distribute torque between the left and right wheels to boost traction on slippery surfaces.
Honda’s fourth-generation flagship luxury model, which went on sale in Japan on October 7, also features a safety system that detects pedestrians during night-time driving and alerts drivers to prevent accidents.
The annual award’s chosen by the COTY executive committee, an industry panel composed mostly of auto journalists.
The new Legend competes in a tough but lucrative domestic high-end sedan market into which rivals Toyota Motor and Nissan Motor have both recently launched key models.
Honda’s latest offering sells for around 5.25m yen ($49,070), a few thousand dollars more than the previous model, but the auto maker said it already had more than 2,200 orders in Japan since the car’s launch last month.
Honda aims to sell 6,000 units of the 300HP car a year in Japan while targeting annual sales of about 20,000 units in North America where the car’s sold as Acura RL under its luxury brand.
“We are extremely honoured,” Honda president and CEO Takeo Fukui said in a statement. At its sticker price, which is significantly higher than Toyota’s Mark X launched this week and Nissan’s Fuga rolled out last month, the Legend competes with foreign luxury brands such as Mercedes-Benz and BMW.
The Car of the Year award went to Subaru-maker Fuji Heavy Industries’ Legacy sedan last year, and to Honda’s remodelled Accord/Accord Wagon two years ago.
Among the other categories, Mazda Motor took home the Best Value badge for its Verisa compact car this year, while Volkswagen’s Golf/Golf Touran was named Import Car of the Year. |
