Honda's Big Plans For 2015: A Jet, A Supercar And Formula One Racing

After a difficult year marred by record recalls and five deaths in Honda cars linked to Takata airbags, Honda is counting on 2015 to be better as it tries to shift the focus toward high-profile projects that highlight its engineering prowess and racing heritage.

At Detroit’s North American International Auto Show this week, for instance, the Japanese car maker is unveiling a reborn Acura NSX, an exotic super car that had a cult following in the 1990s, but disappeared in 2005. It’s back now as a hybrid, powered by a six-cylinder engine with twin turbochargers and three electric motors. It goes on sale in late summer.

But that’s only the beginning. Honda this year will also begin delivering its advanced light jet, pending Federal Aviation Administration approval. Designed for business customers, the Honda Jet is built in North Carolina and is powered by two unique GE-Honda over-the-wing engines.

Honda is also returning to Formula One racing with a new power unit – a 1.6-liter turbocharged engine and hybrid-type kinetic and thermal energy recovery systems – in partnership with McLaren and drivers Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button, beginning in Australia in March.

“No other automaker in the world has the depth of R&D know-how and experience to create such a diverse array of advanced technology products, let alone bring them to market,” said John Mendel, executive vice president of American Honda Motor. “These all-new products and technologies represent significant advancements for our customers and for the future of mobility everywhere; innovations that only a comprehensive mobility company like Honda can truly achieve.”

It’ll be a big year in Honda showrooms, too, with the launch of the all-new 2016 HR-V small crossover and a redesigned Pilot 8-passenger SUV, followed by a new Ridge line pickup truck in 2016. Honda needs to strengthen is light truck offerings. It’s been missing out on the truck-fueled sales boom in the U.S. Last year, despite record sales, Honda lost market share to rivals that sell more trucks and SUVs.

Honda also announced this week that it will add a new battery electric vehicle and a plug-in hybrid vehicle to its lineup by 2018 and said it will equip more models with its two- and three-motor hybrid systems.

It all help draw attention away from Honda’s other problems, including the Takata investigation, which brought scrutiny to Honda’s safety reporting methods. Last week, the U.S. government slapped Honda with a record $70 million fine for failing to report 1,729 death and injury incidents to regulators over 11 years.