Honda CEO Takeo Fukui gave his State of the Carmaker year-end speech earlier this week, in which he noted a rise in sales over 2004 (1.45 million units, up 4%) and confirmed new product entries in North America in 2006. By mid-year, he said, we'll see the new, entry-level Honda Fit arrive on these shores, which he says will strengthen the company's US line and "environmental performance," while "cultivating new customer segments." We'll also see the rumored Acura RD-X, a new small SUV to rival the BMW X3. No word on the new, V10-powered NSX, other than that the company is tooling up to mass-produce its next-gen powerplants and increase production of hybrid-drive systems. Rats.

Honda Motors Summary of Year-end 2005 CEO Speech [Investors Business Daily]

Related:
Honda CEO Hints at V10 in NSX Successor [internal]

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