CR-Z, Crosstour, Insight sales hurting – Odyssey lone bright spot among new Honda models

Honda has hit rough water with sales of its new CR-Z, Accord Crosstour and Insight models According toAutomotive News, the three models are underperforming in a big way.

Take the Insight hybrid, which is falling 40,000 units short of even the most conservative estimates inside the company. Outsold 8-to-1 by its Toyota Prius rival, Honda has only managed to shift 19,325 units through November – the company originally targeted sales of 60,000 to 80,000.

Likewise, thus far this year, Honda has sold nearly 20,000 fewer Crosstour models than its biggest competitor – the Toyota Venza, selling just 25,927 units compared to the Toyota’s 43,325. Need we remind you, Honda’s original sales goal for the Crosstour was 40,000 units per year, a number we were deeply skeptical of after first driving the vehicle at its launch last November.

Although it hasn’t been on the market that long, early sales for Honda’s new CR-Z hybrid coupe aren’t any more encouraging. Automotive News reports that Honda had conservatively intended to sell around 15,000 of the two-seat hybrids per year, but so far, only 4,373 have made their way off of dealer lots and another 3,000 are currently sitting in inventory. Thankfully, there is one bright spot in the Honda stable – the 2011 Odyssey. The minivan bowed in September, and it’s performing well against a minivan segment that has heated up with a range of new competitors.

2012 Ford Focus production begins

The 2012 Ford Focus isn’t just an all-new model for the Blue Oval team – it represents the first example of the automaker’s “One Ford” global product strategy. Ford is now engineering cars that will be exactly the same in all markets, and for the first time in many years, we Americans will finally be able to buy the same Focus as the rest of the world.

Ford will start selling the 2012 Focus early next year, and thus, production of the new global C-car has officially started at the automaker’s Saarlouis Assembly Plant in Germany. This facility is capable of manufacturing up to 1,850 vehicles a day over the course of three shifts, and all three Focus bodystyles (sedan, hatchback and wagon) will be produced here. The high-performance Focus ST will be added to this line in early 2012, as well.

In addition to the Saarlouis plant, Ford has begun early production of the North American-spec Focus at the automaker’s Michigan Assembly Plant just outside of Detroit. This plant has been completely overhauled over the past year, as it was formerly used to produce the Expedition and Lincoln Navigator.

Alfa Romeo Giulietta G430 iMove Marangoni debuts in Bologna

Think of Alfa Romeo and the color you’ll likely be picturing is red. But a custom version of the Giuliettaunveiled at the Bologna Motor Show has gone a decidedly greener route.

Outfitted by Italian rubber company Marangoni and fashion house Conte of Florence, the Giulietta G430 iMove is based on the Giuletta 1750 Quadrifoglio Verde and distinguished by special green tires riding on 19-inch Barracuda Karizzma alloys. But that’s only the tip of the proverbial iceberg when it comes to the modifications carried out on the special Giulietta.

A Ragazzon stainless steel exhaust system boosts output up to 232 horsepower, while a Tarox braking system, KW suspension and custom aero kit also factor in to the program, along with a golf-themed leather, Alcantara and carbon fiber interior by Conte of Florence. There’s even a Segway scooter mounted in the back, and you can get all the details about the show car in the press release after the jump and view it in detail in the high-resolution image mega-gallery below.

Flogging the Porsche 911 GT2 RS

It doesn’t take much to set up a video like this. After all, why wouldn’t you want to see even more footage of the 2011 Porsche 911 GT2 RS being flogged around a track? It’s footage we can’t seem to get enough of.

There’s nothing like watching a 620-horsepower 911 doing what it does best out on a closed course, and we highly recommend that you take a five-and-a-half-minute break from whatever you’re doing to watch the videoafter the jump.

Tanner Foust shreds at Ken Block Invitational Gymkhana Grid

When the smoke cleared this weekend at the inaugural Ken Block Invitational Gymkhana Grid event at Toyota’s Irwindale Speedway, Tanner Foust had claimed the top spot. The head-to-head event, which had drivers like Foust, Vaughn Gittin Jr., Andrew Comrie-Picard and host Ken Block cording brand-new tires in a matter of minutes, pitted powertrains (AWD or RWD) in the same brackets to keep things interesting. After several rounds of eliminations, it came down to just Foust and Block for the final – both drivers in similar 550 horsepower AWD Ford Fiestas. In the best-of-three sprints, Block ran nearly flawlessly, but Foust demonstrated inhuman levels of car control (720-degree spins just inches from a barrel) to take the first two races and the resulting overall win.

On a related side note: Earlier in the evening, Michael Essa, driving GSR Autosport’s 350R (a BMW V10-powered 3 Series), topped Vaughn Gittin to take the win at the Discount Tire burn-out contest. While other drivers spent their three minutes doing spins around the course, Essa simply cranked his steering wheel to the left and bounced off the rev-limiter (in third gear) until he disappeared into a thick gray cloud – liquidating his Nitto tires in 90 seconds of carnage.

Hit the jump to watch the complete battle between Block and Foust.

Hennessey Venom GT visits Jay Leno’s Garage

In his quest to get his mitts on every piece of covetable sheetmetal on the planet, Jay Leno has just had aHennessey Venom GT in his modest little garage. With 1,200 horsepower packed into a lightweight chassis supplied by the gurus at Lotus, the machine is what our supercar dreams would be made of – if only we took LSD before bed. John Hennessey, the man behind this beast, says that the original goal for the Venom GT was to create a vehicle that made no apologies for its performance and power-to-weight ratio. As a result, don’t expect too many creature comforts to crop up in the cabin.

At around 2,700 pounds, the Venom GT provides one of the best power-to-weight ratios of any vehicle made today – production or otherwise. The biggest surprise is that even with all that power, the engine is sucking down about 18 psi of boost and runs off of pump gas. Sounds tasty to us. Hit the jump to see the late night funny man’s take onthe Venom GT.

How to build your own hidden racing sim setup and keep your wife happy

Two things have prevented us from installing a full-blown racing-wheel, pedals and seat in our living room for the likes of Gran Turismo 5 – the aggravation of having the hardware soak up space in the living room and the threat of endangering hard-earned household peace accords for such a folly. One enterprising soul over at OverClockers has come up with the perfect solution by genetically splicing attractive furniture and functional gaming hardware into one vastly superior being. Using a little MDF and some excellent upholstery work, user Lyshco has managed to create a racing cockpit that’s a little larger than your run-of-the-mill F1 throne, and he’s done so without shelling out nearly $7,000 for a convertible coffee table.

The trick is that the whole kit-and-caboodle folds up into a very attractive ottoman when not in use, saving everyone’s eyes from having to suffer through staring at the evidence of our dweeby past time. It turns out that old gem about necessity’s momma turns out to be true.