The 2006 Honda Civic has won yet another accolade, this time in Europe: the 51st international "red dot: best of the best" award for highest design quality. The award is held annually by the Design Zentrum Nordrhein Westfalen museum in Germany. Judged by an international jury, the award designates winners in 11 categories, including Transportation, the category in which the Civic won.
The 4,000 square meter Design Zentrum Nordrhein Westfalen museum will house an exhibition of all the winners for at least a year, and the yearbook published in conjunction with the award will feature the Civic as well.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Paul @ Mar 29th 2006 11:38AM
further proof that the americans can no longer compete in the international or domestic auto market. juts look at the stupid junk produced and designed by Detroit. Cobalt is already on CU stupid junk list. Thats and award to be proud of.
Ryan @ Mar 29th 2006 12:21PM
Honda just copies Audi's Designs and slaps their logo on it! (specially the rear end of the A4)
s @ Mar 29th 2006 12:26PM
Unbelievable! It's just doesn't stop.
Congratulations Honda!!!
Mark @ Mar 29th 2006 12:30PM
Hang on a minute, that picture doesn't show the european civic, over here (in the UK anyway) we get this one
http://www.pistonheads.com/pics/news/12129/HondaCivic2006-L.jpg
Much nice i think, the one you show there is a bag of ass, once again the americans take something great and crap all over it
JBains @ Mar 29th 2006 12:30PM
So the car won all the awards in the US and are now winning international awards. All two members of Autoblog's anti-Japanese group will not like this. I bet they'd be screaming that the panel were "biased" and prolly on the take ;)
Robert @ Mar 29th 2006 12:51PM
Just wait until Pontiac launches the G5. That will show them!
Wait, that's a rebadged Cobalt. Nevermind.
shiznannigan @ Mar 29th 2006 12:55PM
What the hell is "design quality"?
--quote:--"once again the americans take something great and crap all over it"--
Um, wouldn't the design be something decided by Honda.... a Japanese company?
Christian J @ Mar 29th 2006 12:59PM
Ugly, slow, expensive (including the Si). Cars like that shouldn't be allowed on the road. You suck Honda. -C
Jason S. E. @ Mar 29th 2006 1:05PM
"Ugly, slow, expensive (including the Si). Cars like that shouldn't be allowed on the road. You suck Honda. -C"
Wow. After all the accolades and awards for the new Civic, are comments like these what Honda-bashing has come down to???
Thank you for your insightful contribution Christian.
Robert @ Mar 29th 2006 1:10PM
Ugly? Some people think so.
Slow and Expensive?
It's as fast as a Dodge Viper SRT10 in the slalom and only costs about $20000 (according to Edmunds.com).
Honda rocks!
Aki @ Mar 29th 2006 1:28PM
Slow and expensive? What other car has 0.90g on the skidpad for $20k? Sure as heck not a Cobalt. Indeed, the anti-Japanese party's grasping at straws.
"Um, wouldn't the design be something decided by Honda.... a Japanese company?"
I think he's referring to the design of the coupe, which is only available in the US. I think the coupe has the nicest design of all the Civcs (Euro hatch, JDM sedan, US sedan, Hybrid, Coupe).
Corey W. @ Mar 29th 2006 1:42PM
You know, the whole "Toyota/Honda rulez", "Detroit/American automakers suck" and vice versa, is getting childish. It's like a broken record, who cares!!! If you don't like the Civic...FINE!!! Don't buy it, same goes for the Cobalt, don't buy it!! And spare the rest of us the useless bashing...
RussianTech @ Mar 29th 2006 1:53PM
Corey W,
There is no need to bash Honda and Toyota, the facts speak for themselves. Honda and Toyota simply make better cars than Detroit. This has been proven by creadible CR research, articles by major automotive publications, various awards, etc. GM's vehicles are comparable with the Honda and Toyotas of 2000, not bad, but definatley not competative with the latest Japanese offerings. GM has always been a few years behind the competition, its all part of their traditionalist mentality to making smally crappy cars and instead focusing on trucks/SUVs. While the Japanese think small, practical and efficient, GM thinks Tahoe, Suburaban, Escalade!
Hemidakota @ Mar 29th 2006 2:02PM
Further how bad designs have become from Asia - Civic...
Reddot who?
Better car is mere Internet speculation when Honda out did Toyota for the fourth spot in 2005 Recalls. Toyota recalled more cars thenit sold for that year. LOL
2003/2004 Lemon List number two was Toyota.
Well so much for that shared information how great the cars are....go figure...so much for any Internet, JD Powers skewing lists, or CR bias opinions. B
RussianTech @ Mar 29th 2006 2:26PM
Hemidakota,
I hope you enjoy your gas guzzler this summer when Regular Unleaded hits $4.00.
Soon, 'grab life by the horns' will be replaced with 'pumps'.
Jason S. E. @ Mar 29th 2006 2:29PM
"Reddot who?"
If you are a designer, the International Red Dot award is equivalent to an Oscar for designers. It's highly pretigious in the design community. The Red Dot organization even has their own muesum in Essen Germany, and the winner gets a permanent exhibit at the meusem for at least a year. but its an award not specific to automobiles and more toward product design in general (Think the iPod when it first came it out).
Go check out their history if you care:
http://en.red-dot.org/43.html
Red dot is by no means "bias", and is most definitely a very international panel that cares little about the car industry.
However, to call an award "Bias" by the mere fact that it doesn't conform to your own narrow bias views is boldy hypocritical.
John B @ Mar 29th 2006 2:48PM
Mark:
Yeah, you guys are lucky with that Civic hatchback. I would love to see that in Canada. I saw the Fifth Gear road test of one, amazing car.
Steve @ Mar 29th 2006 3:30PM
Um, just to echo number 4, why show the American design if it's the European one (which, to me anyway, is FAR better especially when you consider it's a five door and the much more eye-catching interior) that won the award?
And to all those that are banging on about performance (for and against) wait until the Type R (or possible Type RR) version is launched in the next year or so. Only then will we be able to judge just how good (or bad) the handling and performance really is.
Dave @ Mar 29th 2006 5:23PM
Although the car has gotten great reviews and I truly like its distinctive exterior, the interior is absolutely horrid. I don't understand how anyone can like it. Its worse than the S2000 interior (another car thats exterior is exterior).
I don't get it. Maybe I'm out of the loop but the interior has ADD inducing qualities for me.
Ed @ Mar 29th 2006 5:24PM
Hey, the Cobalt is awesome!
And by "awesome" I mean "utterly inferior to every one of its competitors and probably would be dead on arrival in terms of sales if not for Hertz".