10. Chevy Impala: 14M units sold

The numbers are always changing and a new list of the Top 10 best-selling vehicles in history, compiled by 24/7 Wall St. has a new model on top.

There are some surprises on the list, but for the most part it all makes sense. Whether they’ve been in production for a long time or they’re reasonably priced worldwide, the top 10 best-selling cars of all time might not be the most exciting, but are clearly the most popular throughout history.

The Chevrolet Impala is the only GM vehicle on the list and has quite the history since hitting the market 54 years ago. Starting its life as a large two-door performance coupe, the Impala evolved into a versatile sedan. Or as we like to call it, a rental car. Ironically, it isn’t actually offered as a coupe anymore, which seems like a distant memory after 10 generations of upgrades.

With all the Super Bowl ads finding their way onto the Internet well ahead of the big game, we’ve already had our fair share of head scratchers, like the commercial from Audi, and humorous ones like Acura‘s NSX commercial starring Jerry Seinfeld and Jay Leno. And while we understand that most ads are designed to make us laugh or garner our attention, creative ones such as this Civic commercial is just flat out cool.

The description of the video by Honda puts it best, describing what Honda engineers went through when they came up with the design of the new Civic. From just the spark of an idea came the journey of building a vehicle, overcoming challenges until it culminates into the new Civic. Of course this commercial targets their European customers, which shows off the new European Honda Civic hatchback and is narrated by Garrison Keillor who is very popular in Honda’s British ads.

And for those that can really go way back, you’ll see the slight homage this commercial pays to the infamous “Cog” commercial from Honda, where an Accord was built from a single cog rolling down an incline. It’s subtle, but it’s those things that make us not want to push fast forward. Got what Audi? No vampires, no more vampires. Please.

Watch the ad after the break.

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The Honda Civic continues to dominate the Canadian market as year after year it is the best selling passenger car in the country. For 14 years now Canadians have sworn by the Civic and rewarded Honda with the number one spot.

In 2011 Honda sold 55,090 Civics across the country. This number is especially impressive when you consider that Honda held the position of best selling car by a margin of 10,000 vehicles over its nearest competitor in 2011.

The CR-V also achieved top honors in Canada as it sold 25,076 units in the country which makes the CR-V the top selling import SUV in Canada.

Even though Honda is branded as an import, 96% of all Honda and Acura vehicles purchased in Canada last year were built in North American plants, which means that all of these ‘import’ sales helped the domestic economy.

Read AutoGuide’s Civic and CR-V reviews here.

She’s had it with Honda, and Heather Peters, a former lawyer, hopes her unusual legal approach will garner as much as 10 times the cash reward and potentially serious consequences for the company if others follow her lead.

Peters, unlike the hundreds of Civic Hybrid owners who joined class action suits, decided to take Honda to small claims court over her 2006 Civic Hybrid achieving sub-par mileage. The car is said to get 50 mpg, but according to Peters, her car never came close and only managed 30 mpg as the battery wore.

Her choice seemed more attractive after finding out that people taking part in the suit would probably only receive about $200 cash and a $750 to $1000 rebate incentive to buy a new Honda. She aims to be awarded the maximum $10,000 allowed as of 2012 in California small claims court.

While taking the Japanese car giant to court might seem sort of senile, Peters is far from crazy. The first fist in her corner is that she has a legal background, so she will be able to prepare a case better than your average Honda customer. Second, California small claims court doesn’t allow lawyers, so Honda will have to keep their legal crack shots at home. Third, as Richard Cupp Jr., who teaches product liability law at Pepperdine University, told the associated press, ”the judge will have a lot of discretion and the evidentiary standards are relaxed in small claims court.”

It’s true that most people probably won’t have the time, education, or energy to take Peters’ path against Honda. If she succeeds and others choose to take similar action, she estimates that it could cost Honda as much as $2 billion. For now, she’s launched a site to promote her cause: DontSettleWithHona.org.

As for her future car plans, she is willing to trade her Civic for a comparable car with a manual transmission because it’s all she trusts anymore.

[Source: MSNBC]

Often times we only hear the bad side of the story: cars getting stolen, thieves running off with your precious property, etc. But sometimes it’s nice to hear that there’s a happy ending to some of thefts thanks to Lojack.

Lojack helps retrieve countless vehicles a year, but some of the incidents are more peculiar than others. In Atlanta, a thief successfully disabled the OnStar GPS system on a stolen Cadillac Escalade, but that didn’t affect Lojack. The company, with the assistance of the local police, were able to recover the stolen vehicle.

Another interesting one was a thief that had stolen a Lexus at gunpoint from a salesman, which Lojack had no troubles finding. Or even better yet, one man was smart enough to have Lojack on his Honda Civic, but wasn’t smart enough to say no to taking a check when he sold it. Thankfully, Lojack was able to get the car back once the check bounced.

Lojack in 2011 even helped recover 30 cars that were stolen from a Southern California used car dealership. Even though only one of the vehicles was equipped with Lojack, they were able to recover all 30. Similarly, a Honda Accord Crosstour was found through Lojack, revealing a ring of stolen cars that were on their way in shipping containers to other countries.

In closing, this year was a good year for those that have Lojack. The company was vital in closing chop shops, breaking up an international car theft ring, tracking down a murder suspect in a stolen car, and even deterred the kidnapping of a four year old girl.

[Source: Motor Authority]

In a completely unprecedented and unexpected move, Honda has announced to its dealers to expect a new Civic by the end of next year. That’s right, the all-new 2012 Honda Civic that just came out is already getting a makeover.

Honda is clearly doing damage control by saying that the revamp is coming early in order to stay ahead of the competition. But there’s little doubt it’s coming because the all-new Civic was so disappointing. In fact, many believe that it was a step backwards from the previous generation’s offerings and that Honda really missed the mark on their iconic model.

At least Honda is being proactive in recognizing that a change needs to be made, hopefully it’s for the better.

As for what we can expect, Honda recently previewed a new lineup of engine and transmission technologies, including a new direct-injection 1.8-liter 4-cylinder engine. In addition, Honda has produced a new CVT transmission for use in compact cars and so its possible that will replace the current 5-speed automatic unit. These changes come as a part of Honda’s new Earth Dreams Technology plan where it aims to deliver vehicles that are not only fuel economy leaders, but performance leaders. too.

GALLERY: 2012 Honda Civic Sedan

[Source: Wheels.ca]

Kelly Blue Book Released their list of the 20 most researched vehicles and three of the top five spots belong the Honda products. The Civic and Accord placed first and second respectively, with the Toyota Camry in third, the Honda CR-V in fourth and the Ford F-150 in fifth.

The Hyundai Sonata and Elantra placed sixth and seventh respectively, with the Elantra cracking the top 20 for the first time. The top five brands overall were Toyota, Ford, Honda, Chevrolet and Hyundai, with the Toyota Prius as the sole hybrid on the list. Check out the full list below, after the jump.

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Honda is having a pretty tough year compared to its competitors, with an unsuccessful North American Civic refresh and the floods in Thailand hurting their production. Just how tough has this year been for Honda? They’re the only large automaker to post a US sales decline last month, when total sales jumped 14-percent throughout the industry.

Honda is now looking towards the future however, as competitors continue to cut into their sales with their total market share having dropped to 9-percent in 2011 from 10.5-percent. Honda’s immediate goals to turn it all around is to ramp up production on its new Civic and CR-V that will go on sale this month. They’re also aiming to release plenty of new models within the next two years, hoping to gain back its market share.

Next year’s models will be powered by the new powerplants that Honda showed off at the Tokyo Motor Show, claiming that they’ll lead the industry in fuel efficiency. And despite all the negative press surrounding the new Civic, Honda is optimistic that sales will continue to grow for its number one model.

[Source: Automotive News]

Honda CEO Takanobu Ito stepped up and assumed responsibility for the Honda Civic’s miserable start in the United States, telling Automotive News that ”The ultimate responsibility rests with me.”

The Civic was left off the Consumer Reports list of recommended vehicles, a rarity for any Honda product. Cheap interior materials were blamed, and many reviewers reported dull styling and driving dynamics as other disappointments. Civic sales are down 15 percent this year, and Honda product planners are hoping for a model refresh as soon as 2013, well ahead of Honda’s usual vehicle schedule.

While Honda decided to stick with a smaller footprint and reduced content for the new Civic (betting on a downward economy) competitors like Hyundai, Chevrolet and Ford went in the opposite direction, offering advanced features like backup cameras, self-parking, powerful engines and bold styling. This approach won out in the end, with the Hyundai Elantra, Chevrolet Cruze and Ford Focus reporting strong sales in the segment.

[Source: Automotive News]

The 2011 Green Car of the Year award isn’t going to an electric car or a hybrid. The winner is the Honda Civic GX, a car that has an internal combustion engine, but that doesn’t burn any gasoline at all. That’s because it’s powered by natural gas.

The Civic beat out the Ford Focus Electric, the Mitsubishi i, the Toyota Prius v and the 2012 Volkswagen Passat TDI.

The car is rated at 27-mpg city, 38-mpg highway and a 31-mpg average. Honda claims the cost to operate the car is roughly 30 percent less than a conventional gasoline engine.

While fueling stations for such cars are rare, they’re likely to become much more popular – especially in Southern California. The reason is that the Civic GX is allowed to operate in the high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes – something the Prius is no longer able to boast.

Along with staff from the Green Car Journal, this year’s judging panel for the 2012 Green Car of the Year award included Carl Pope, Sierra Club chairman; Frances Beinecke, Natural Resources Defense Council president; as well as Jay Leno and Carroll Shelby.

The winner of the 2011 Green Car of the Year award was the Chevrolet Volt.