Honda came away from the sales table with a winning three-of-a-kind hand in May, thanks to the Honda CR-V, Honda Accord and Honda Civic. With each member of that trio seeing significant sales success last month, the Honda brand pushed volume up by 5.2 percent and delivered a total of 125,649 units.

The Honda CR-V set the pace by achieving a new high-water point for May sales, with 27,298 of them, and that total was 8.4 percent higher than in May of 2012. Then, while the Honda Accord and Honda Civic didn’t set records, they were two of only four cars in the industry to break the 30,000-sales mark in May. In fact, the Accord’s 33,218 deliveries (+11.7 percent) made it the second-best-selling car in America last month, with the Honda Civic, at 30,268 sales, finishing fourth in the monthly car rankings.

The same day the brand released May sales results for the Honda CR-V, Honda Accord and Honda Civic, a new study from Parents Magazine and Edmunds.com recognized that same threesome on its annual list of 10 Best Family Cars. The troika (along with the Honda Odyssey) is also in line for another possible honor, according to John Mendel, executive vice president of sales for American Honda: “Virtually every Honda vehicle we sold in May represents a purchase by an individual customer, which means Accord, Civic, CR-V and Odyssey will maintain their industry-leading retail sales performance in 2013.”

In other May sales news from the brand, deliveries of the Honda Fit spiked by 20.3 percent, on 4,667 units, and crossovers including the Honda CR-V, Pilot and Ridgeline combined for a May sales record for Honda’s light-duty truck portfolio.

One of the industry’s top online sources for new-vehicle research—Kelley Blue Book’s KBB.com—recently announced good news for both the Honda family and yours: Backed by the site’s in-depth analysis, three of the automaker’s vehicles have been named to the honor roll of 10 Best Family Cars of 2013.

The Honda CR-V topped KBB.com’s compact SUV comparison test “by offering exceptional comfort, a smooth ride, and an excellent value,” according to the site, which went on to note that, “All of those characteristics, along with some premium items like a leather interior, navigation system and rear-seat entertainment, make the Honda CR-V an excellent 5-seat family car.”

For those who need more room, KBB.com prefers the Honda Odyssey, twice noting that the minivan is proof “Honda understands families.” The Odyssey’s versatile second-row seating system came in for particular praise, but the site further reported: “the same cleverness that designed them permeates the whole vehicle.”

The final Honda name on the list is a familiar one, with the all-new Accord leveraging its three decades of family success to once again stand out from its rivals. While the name remains the same, the Accord itself is all new, “with new looks, more fuel-efficient powertrains and class-exclusive safety features like a side camera that sees where your eyes can’t,” detailed the website.

“Honda prides itself in designing vehicles around the needs of our customers,” said Art St. Cyr, vice president of Product planning and Logistics at American Honda, upon hearing the news. “There’s no better validation for this effort than being recognized for having vehicles that excel in the areas critical to the family buyer.”

Backed by a record of success that saw the company supply engines for five consecutive driving champions—from 1987-1991—Honda will return to the world of Formula One racing for the 2015 season. Notably, it will do so in partnership with the same chassis developer behind prior title-winning efforts: McLaren.

“The names of McLaren and Honda are synonymous with success in Formula One, and, for everyone who works for both companies, the weight of our past achievements together lies heavily on our shoulders,” admitted Martin Whitmarsh, CEO of McLaren. “But it’s a mark of the ambition and resolve we both share that we want once again to take McLaren Honda to the very pinnacle of Formula One success. Together we have a great legacy—and we’re utterly committed to maintaining it.”

Honda will again provide engines for the team, hinting at the primary reason the company is eager to get back into the premier class of automobile racing. The series will soon mandate the use of new, technologically advanced powertrains, and the Japanese automaker does not want to miss out on any of the action.

“The new F1 regulations, with their significant environmental focus, will inspire even greater development of our own advanced technologies and this is central to our participation in F1,” according to Takanobu Ito, president and CEO of Honda. “We have the greatest respect for the FIA’s decision to introduce these new regulations that are both highly challenging but also attractive to manufacturers that pursue environmental technologies and to the Formula One Group, which has developed F1 into a high-value, top car-racing category supported by enthusiastic fans.”

If you happen to miss this summer’s Honda Civic Tour—headlined by Maroon 5—you can still connect with the automaker during the 2013 concert season thanks to an encore effort from the brand that once again stars the Civic. Continuing its long-time support for new music, the Civic will sponsor three more of the country’s top music festivals during 2013:

• Sasquatch! in Quincy, Washington, where the Honda Stage will feature Vampire Weekend and Primus 3D from May 24-27
• New York City’s Governors Ball, slated for June 7-9, with Pretty Lights, The Lumineers, NAS and The Avett Brothers all taking the Honda Stage
• Austin City Limits, which runs October 4-6 and 11-13 and will showcase Depeche Mode, the Cure, Kings of Leon, Atoms for Peace and many more

Honda will also provide an opportunity for some lucky fan to win VIP concert passes and a brand-new 2013 Civic sedan. Simply visit the Honda Civic HondaStage Sweeps Facebook page for details, or check in with your local dealer for the latest news on the Civic.

“Here at Honda we are just as passionate about music as our owners and being a part of these festivals allows us to connect with them in an authentic way,” said Mike Accavitti, senior vice president of Auto Operations for American Honda. “Honda has been a mainstay at the biggest summer festivals for more than five years and once again, attendees can expect that the Honda Stage will host the best and brightest bands in the country.”

For more information about the Civic Tour 2013, visit http://CivicTour.Honda.com.

The best-selling compact car in the country last month just added another significant advantage for customers. The NHTSA awarded the 2013 Honda Civic Sedan with a 5-star overall vehicle score in its New Car Assessment Program. The Civic Sedan previously earned the new Top Safety Pick+ designation from the IIHS, and the 2013 Civic Coupe also doubled up on those safety honors, making Honda the only automaker to offer a small-car family with both awards in its resume.

In fact, every 2013 vehicle in Honda’s lineup achieved Top Safety Pick or Top Safety Pick+ status from the IIHS. The latter recognition, new for the 2013 model year, adds a front-impact test in which vehicles strike narrow objects like telephone poles or trees. It’s a rigorous procedure that’s seen a number of top names—like the Toyota Camry—come up short. Honda’s dedication to “Safety for Everyone” also ensured the all-new Honda Accord, last month’s best-selling car of any kind in the United States, would score top honors from the IIHS and NHTSA.

The refreshed Civic and redesigned Accord also showcase Honda’s next-gen Advanced Compatibility Engineering (ACE) body structure among their wide range of occupant-protection measures.

“Car shoppers cannot find a small car with higher overall safety ratings than the 2013 Honda Civic,” said Art St. Cyr, vice president of product planning and logistics at American Honda. “Safety ratings leadership across product lines is a fundamental part of not only our strategic business plan, but also our philosophy as a company.”

Honda wants you to race. Or at least follow its race cars.

This month, the automaker launched, “Inside the Indy Challenge,” a social-media marketing program showcasing IndyCar teams Schmidt Peterson Motorsports and Schmidt Hamilton Motorsports. Through a series of online video vignettes, viewers get a behind-the-scenes look as  both groups compete in three distinctly different races: the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, the Sao Paulo Indy 300 and the Indianapolis 500. Drivers Simon Pagenaud and Tristan Vautier will be featured in the series.

Says Mike Accavitti, senior vice president of Automotive Operations for American Honda, Inc., “We knew that we were in a position to offer an interesting, first-hand perspective on the IndyCar Series and share what racing means to Honda. Through the ‘Inside the Indy Challenge,’ we are able to join the Honda racing conversation and interact with fans in a meaningful way through an engaging social media experience.”

Viewers can share the videos through the American Honda Motor Co., Inc., Honda Performance Development and Schmidt Peterson Motorsports social-media channels, programs and websites. Links can be found at the Inside the Indy Challenge page.

Written by Joel Arellano.

The Honda CR-V set an all-time April sales record last month, becoming the best-selling crossover in the country on the strength of 26,519 deliveries. That performance represented an increase of 12.2 percent as compared to the same month in 2012. But the award-winning crossover also was just one of six Honda vehicles to see double-digit sales gains last month, as the brand’s lineup continues to build momentum one third of the way through the 2013 selling season. In fact, Honda division sales have grown in three out of four months so far this year, which has resulted in a 5.2 percent sales boost and 419,798 deliveries.

Other April top performers for Honda included:

• Honda Fit: 4,286 sales, +33.9 percent
• Honda CR-Z: 405 sales, +21.3 percent
• Honda Odyssey: 11,832 sales, +12.9 percent, and the No. 1 minivan in the country
• Honda Pilot: 10,613, +20.2 percent
• Honda Ridgeline: 1,557 sales, +47.6 percent

In addition, the all-new Honda Accord, with 33,538 deliveries in May, was the top-selling car in the country, while the Honda Civic posted 26,453 sales—and an 8.3 percent spike in volume—to lead the compact segment. Also worth noting: American Honda’s premium Acura division pitched in with an additional 13,899 sales in April as it grew volume by 14.2 percent.

“The April sales record for the CR-V exemplifies the incredible retail sales success of Honda’s core models,” said John Mendel, executive vice president of Sales at American Honda. “The Accord and Civic also continue to resonate, one customer at a time, with overall year-to-date sales well ahead of last year.”

Already helping folks save energy when they leave the house, American Honda is now ready to do the same in the house—by breaking ground on the Honda Smart Home US on the campus of the University of California, Davis.

“As an academic leader in sustainability research, UC Davis is proud to be the site of this innovative research home, which will take us to the next level of energy research and deployment,” said Nicole Woolsey Biggart, director of the university’s Energy Efficiency Center. “We are excited by the opportunity for our scientists to test new ideas for integrated and commercially viable carbon-reduction technologies.”

Biggart speaks with a sense of urgency, too, since California is working to require all new residential construction to draw zero net energy from the state’s power grid by 2020. To achieve this, the Honda Smart Home was designed to create more power than it uses, while using less power than the average home in the area consumes. More specifically, the high-efficiency home will showcase:

• A photovoltaic array that provides power for both the home and a Honda Fit EV
• Honda’s Energy Management System, with smart-grid technology to optimize the home’s energy usage in relation to activity on the local power grid
• High-efficiency heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems, to be designed by UC Davis to leverage geothermal heating and cooling
• Direct solar-to-car vehicle charging to eliminate parasitic energy losses that result from converting electricity from DC to AC and vice versa

“With Honda Smart Home US we will showcase our vision for a lifestyle that produces zero CO2 and that could even save consumers money,” said Steve Center, vice president of the Environmental Business Development Office of American Honda. “Home energy use and personal mobility account for most of an individual’s carbon emissions. By addressing both sources together, we are advancing technologies that will reduce carbon and eventually transform home design.”

It’s been a busy week for Honda’s racing efforts, as the company recently announced two major motorsports partnerships and saw its engines power two race winners at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach (in California).

It all started right before the Grand Prix weekend, when American Honda’s racing department—Honda Performance Development (HPD)—signed former Indy 500 winner Gil de Ferran to be its technical consultant and advisor. The partnership represents a reunion of sorts, since de Ferran relied on Honda power for his victory at Indianapolis, back-to-back driving championships in the former CART series, and the 2009 LMP1 title in the American Le Man Series. He also served as director of Honda’s Formula 1 team from 2005-2007.

Then, Honda-engined cars claimed three wins at Long Beach: Takuma Sato won the IndyCar event, where the first four finishers were packing Honda power; Klaus Graf and Lucas Luhr did the honors in the ALMS LMP1 support race; and Guy Cosmo and Scott Sharp drove to victory in the LMP2 class.

Honda announced it will be a “Partnering Sponsor” of the 2013 Pikes Peak Hill Climb, while also providing factory support for nine different Honda products—including a Honda CR-Z hybrid, Fit EV, a first-generation Acura NSX, a new TL with Super Handling All-Wheel Drive, an assortment of Honda motorcycles, and even one of the company’s ATVs.

“Pikes Peak presents us with a unique opportunity to showcase Honda’s diverse product lineup and to energize Honda fans around world, as we work to further strengthen Honda’s presence in racing at all levels,” said Mike Accavitti, senior vice president of Automotive Operations for American Honda. “Our associates will be working hard between now and Race Day to prepare this diverse field of race vehicles and showcase the Honda racing spirit.”

Saying that it “impresses as one of the most powerful and energy-efficient EVs available,” the experts at KBB.com have named the 2013 Honda Fit EV to their list of 10 Best Green Cars of 2013. This only makes sense, since the all-electric Fit offers the highest EPA marks of any EV in the country: 132 MPGe city/105 MPGe highway/118 MPGe combined.

Those numbers come courtesy of an advanced powertrain that blends a 20-kWh lithium-ion battery pack and an AC synchronous electric motor to provide drivers with 123 horsepower and 189 lb.-ft. of torque. As an FYI, that’s an additional 6 horsepower and 83 lb.-ft. of torque over the gas-engine Fit. Motivation is enhanced in the EV by a driver-selectable three-mode driving system. It all comes together to provide owners with an EPA-certified all-electric driving range of 82 miles, backed by charging times as low as 3.5 hours (with a 240-volt charger).

“Consumers only have one choice for the most energy efficient electric vehicle—the Honda Fit EV. What’s more, its power and handling make it one of the most fun-to-drive EVs available,” said Art St. Cyr, vice president of product planning and logistics at American Honda. “This recognition from KBB.com further highlights the tremendous environmental and customer value that the Honda Fit EV offers.”

The 2013 Honda Fit EV is currently being offered for lease in California, Oregon, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey and New York, with terms starting at $389 per month for 36 months. Just note, Honda will only offer a limited number of Fit EVs during this phase of the vehicle’s launch, so interested drivers are urged to visit www.FitEV.Honda.com today for lease applications.