from left: Fernando Zobel de Ayala,Masayuki Sano, Tatsuya Natsume, and Helen Yuchengco Dee

MANILA, Philippines — Honda Cars Philippines, Inc. (HCPI) continues to regain momentum in 2012. Just a few months after revealing the new City, the company unveiled yet a new vehicle last Feb. 16 at the Fort Bonifacio Global City, the all-new Honda Civic.

This is the second of four vehicles Honda plans to launch within the year, fulfilling their promise of bouncing back from natural calamities in Thailand and Japan that adversely affected its supply chain the previous year.

Launched at the Honda Mania tent, the vehicle kicked off a weekend exhibit and test drive event from Feb. 16 to 19 at a tent on a Bonifacio Global City Lot along 30th Street in front of One Serendra. The all-new Civic is now on its 9th generation and it hopes to draw in potential buyers with its new fuel efficiency features as well as Smart Technology interface.

Coaching the driver to more fuel efficient driving is the new Eco Assist system, formerly exclusive to Honda’s hybrid models abroad. The Eco Assist technology consists of the ECON mode and the Eco coaching ambient meter. Engaging the ECON mode adjusts the engine, drive-by-wire, transmission, and air-conditioner to further reduce the vehicle’s fuel consumption. An Eco coaching meter guides the driver to become more fuel efficient by measuring throttle input and displaying a blue light in the instrument panel if he is driving aggressively or a green light when driving in a more fuel efficient manner.

The Civic’s Smart Technology interface is composed of improvements to its two-tiered instrument cluster, now called the i-MID system. It is composed of a five-inch color LCD multi-information display. This screen shows audio and fuel consumption information and also allows the driver to customize the vehicle light settings. Cycling through the displays is done with easy-to-operate controls at the steering wheel.

The exterior of the Civic shows a more streamlined design built with crash compatibility against larger vehicles and a variety of collision directions in mind. Underneath the body is a chassis made of more rigid construction, less weight and a revised suspension system to further enhance driving pleasure and return a quiet ride.

The vehicle comes with a 1.8 liter engine, a 5-speed automatic transmission and 16-inch alloy wheels. Safety features like dual SRS airbags, ABS with Electronic Brake Force Distribution (EBD), and Vehicle Stability Assist (VSA) also come as standard. Its suggested retail price is P1,074,000.

In addition to the new Civic, HCPI also took the opportunity to launch its Jazz Special Edition. The unique model from Japan features redesigned front and rear bumpers, special colors and additional convenience features.

Among the additional convenience features are the manually adjustable headlight leveling switch and an upper glove box compartment with A/C link for cooling drinks.

The Jazz Special Edition will be powered by the standard 1.5 liter i-VTEC and comes with many of the other features already present in the top-of-the-line Jazz i-VTEC. This variant is expected to retail for P899,000.

To further reassure customers of continued vehicle and parts supplies. HCPI announced that vehicles and parts will be imported from manufacturing plants in Japan while its supply chain in Thailand continues to recuperate from the calamity.