American Honda had an ideal 2023 within the US, the place it bought 1.3 million models of Hondas and Acuras, up 33% year-on-year as manufacturing stabilised and pandemic-era logistics challenges eased. The gross sales goal for this yr is 1.3 million models for Honda and 150,000 models for premium model Acura, which is 10-15% larger in comparison with 2023’s whole.

The Honda CR-V Hybrid ended 2023 as the general best-selling hybrid automobile within the US. American Honda mentioned that gross sales quantity for the electrified sixth-generation CR-V exceeded expectations, reaching 197,317 models for the yr. Unveiled in July 2022, North American manufacturing of the brand new CR-V began later that yr, that means 2023 would have been the mannequin’s first full yr of gross sales.

In Malaysia, we’re getting the CR-V with a hybrid powertrain for the primary time with this technology. Launched in December, the CR-V e:HEV RS worth was not too long ago introduced to be RM195,900 on-the-road with out insurance coverage.

That makes the RS hybrid RM14k costlier than the best pure ICE variant, the 1.5L Turbo V AWD at RM181,900. The 1.5L Turbo E is priced at RM169,900 whereas the bottom 1.5L Turbo S begins the vary at RM159,900. The primary 750 models of the S is being bought for RM157,900 to rejoice 20 years of CKD manufacturing of the CR-V in Malaysia.

The hybrid is powered by an Clever Multi-Mode Drive (i-MMD) system just like that seen on the Civic e:HEV RS, combining the workings of an electrical motor and petrol engine. The latter is a 2.0-litre naturally-aspirated Atkinson-cycle four-cylinder engine, which acts primarily as a generator.

By itself, the ICE presents 148 PS and 190 Nm of torque at 4,500 rpm. Whereas the engine can present direct drive – by way of a lock-up clutch – at larger speeds for higher effectivity, it’s the electrical motor that does a lot of the hauling work. The e-motor develops 184 PS and 335 Nm from zero to 2,000 rpm, the latter being 20 Nm greater than on the Civic Hybrid.

Like with the Civic vary, the e:HEV is the quickest to 100 km/h right here, with a time of 9.0 seconds (base S is subsequent quickest at 9.7 seconds). It seems to be racier than the remainder too; RS trim brings with it badging, roof rails, physique color trim to switch the SUV’s black plastic, black aspect mirror covers and an energetic shutter grille. The 18-inch alloys are in gloss black and so they have resonators to suppress highway noise.

As for e:HEV RS-exclusive equipment, there’s a ten.25-inch digital instrument show, a 12-speaker Bose audio system, head-up show, key card and Adaptive Driving Beam for the LED headlights. For extra on the brand new CR-V, learn our launch report and first drive report.

American Honda’s 2024 outlook launch mentioned that the model will start gross sales of two zero-emissions automobiles in 2024 – the Prologue SUV, which was jointly-developed with GM, and the CR-V Gasoline Cell Automobile (FCEV). The latter might be North America’s first manufacturing automobile to mix a plug-in function with FCEV expertise in a single mannequin. Simply whenever you thought that Honda has deserted gasoline cell to deal with standard BEVs, attention-grabbing.

GALLERY: 2024 Honda CR-V 2.0L e:HEV RS

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