Compared to his variety in cars, James Bond doesn’t often throw a leg over a motorcycle. Yet this year’s Skyfall, due in October, will mark the second time in as many movies that Bond has tangled with the bad guys on two wheels. This time, though, EON Productions has partnered with Honda so everyone is on Honda CRF250R motorcycles made to look like local Turkish bikes. They were used for the action scenes and by the stunt crews, while the CFR450R was used for camera crews. Funk Flex
Auto Talk: Honda will compete in 2013 Dakar Rally
Honda has announced that it will take part in the 2013 Dakar Rally next January with a special motorcycle works team. It’s been 23 years since Honda last took part in the rally, back when it took place in Europe and Africa and sailed under the Paris-Dakar banner. Between 1981 and 1989, Honda walked away with the gold five times, but hasn’t so much as touched a grain of sand on the new course that spans from Peru through Chile and into Argentina. Team HRC is out to change that with its new four-rider team. Funk Flex
Auto Talk: Honda to rely on racing efforts to woo back enthusiasts?
A scan of recent Honda headlines shows a corporate entity that you’d think few people, and even fewer CEOs, would complain about: in spite of the odd recall, Honda sales are up, it tops an ALG survey on perceived quality, has excellent relations with suppliers, was granted the right to alter its struggling IndyCar engine and then powered the car that won the Indy 500, and its intergalactically popular CR-V beat the new Mazda CX-5 in a Consumer Reports test. And it is the only major automaker to never record an annual loss. Ever. Funk Flex
Auto Talk: First 2013 Honda Accord prototype caught testing
There is no way to overstate how crucial the new Accord launch is to Honda’s future. After some recent missteps, from the launch of the dowdy and unloved Crosstour to the yawn-inducing 2012 Civic, and with new competition mounting from Ford, Hyundai and Kia, Honda clearly needs a winner in its redesigned midsize sedan. Funk Flex
Auto Talk: Honda projects 30 percent of motorcycle sales to come from India by 2020
Honda recently released its financial report for the the manufacturer’s motorcycle division. Not surprisingly, two-wheel-friendly Asia accounted for a lofty 79 percent of the company’s total sales in 2011. The entirety of North America, meanwhile, soaked up just 1.6 percent of the brand’s total volume last year. What’s more, Honda fully intends to expand its operations in the blooming Indian market. Until last year, Honda worked with Hero MotorCorp to sell its bikes in India. With the two entities officially split, the Japanese company reports it expects to see somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 percent of its sales come from the Indian market by 2020. Funk Flex
T-Boz’s Car Being Repossessed?
Looks like Honda is suing T-Boz for failing to make payments on her 2005 Honda Odyssey! Click below to read the full story. Melissa Nash
