Honda Australia will introduce Australia’s
first low-emission petrol cars early next year, setting a new benchmark for toxic exhaust
emissions about 80 per cent below current Australian limits.The commitment is part of
Honda’s world-wide policy to forge ahead with affordable and meaningful technological
advances in clean air technology for all automotive consumers.
The first Honda vehicle meeting the tough Low Emission Vehicle (LEV) benchmark to go on
sale in Australia will be the 1999 four-cylinder Accord, to be built at Honda’s new
state-of-the-art factory in Thailand.
By the end of next year, more Honda models sold in Australia will achieve the
LEV level as Honda introduces this technology progressively across the range.
Honda LEV cars reduce emission of smog-causing nitrous oxide, hydro-carbons and carbon
monoxide by an average of 80 per from the current official Australian emission standard.
This is achieved without performance penalty or extra cost to the consumer.
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Honda is able to meet the LEV mark with a combination of pioneering
technologies, including the latest development of its patented VTEC variable valve
control, sophisticated electronics and high-efficiency catalytic converters.
Thanks to this technology, Honda became the first company to win LEV approval for
petrol-powered cars from the Californian Air Resources Board (CARB) in 1995.
More recently, Honda received CARB recognition of the even cleaner Ultra Low Emission
Vehicle (ULEV) Accord, for sale in California.
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And in Japan, Honda Research and Development has developed an experimental petrol-powered
engine so clean that it has been dubbed ZLEV – for Zero Level Emission Vehicle. This
engine produces so few smog gases that the exhaust emissions are often cleaner than the
ambient air.
Announcing the plan to introduce LEV technology in Australia, Honda Australia Managing
Director Mr Kenichi Abe said the move was a milestone in Honda’s pioneering quest to
produce ever cleaner vehicles at a price that consumers could afford.
"This quest is a passion within Honda, ever since the company was founded 50 years
ago," he said. "And it will not stop here. Even though air quality has improved
in many developed countries, there is still room for improvement."
Mr Abe said Honda had also pursued fuel efficiency as a major priority on all of its
products, greatly reducing the emission of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.
The LEV Honda Accord will be launched in Australia in early 1999.
