(Honda)
The 2017 Honda Civic Type R has claimed the title of world’s fastest production front-wheel-drive production car, according to Honda PR minions. On April 3, 2017, a Civic Type R lapped the 12.9-mile Nordschleife in 7 minutes 43.80 seconds. The Civic Type R is powered by a 2.0-liter VTEC TURBO engine (306HP and 295 lb.-ft. of torque) manufactured in the U.S. at Honda’s Anna, Ohio, engine plant. Production of the new Civic Type R began in March 2017 at Honda of the UK Manufacturing (HUM) in Swindon, England, the global manufacturing center for the tenth generation Civic hatchback. Video footage of the benchmark lap can be viewed on Honda’s YouTube channel at Honda.us/TypeRLapRecord. Editor-In-Chief's Note: As I've said previously, the manufacturers have now rendered running a "Nordschleife lap" all but meaningless because it has been played out, beaten to death and the industry is wallowing in the sameness of it all. I have suggested for years that a race track here in the U.S. should be used just for the sake of doing something different, but that's notgonnahappen.com, apparently. As long as development engineers get a free trip to Germany and get to pound around the Nordschleife, these record laps will continue. Oh well. -PMD
Chevy Bolt Owners. Chevrolet reported today (4/25) that 3,492 Bolt EV owners in the United States have driven a cumulative 4,570,300 miles as of April 2, 2017 since the vehicle went on sale in December 2016. Too bad the Bolt isn't available everywhere.