New Model

From hondacars.com:

"A completely new Honda vehicle is on the horizon. For now, all we can tell you is that it will be called the Accord Crosstour, and that it will go on sale in the fall of 2009. Check back on September 1 for a sneak preview. And if you sign up for Crosstour e-mails, you'll definitely stay ahead of the curve."

I have got to gloat on one major perk of working in the automotive industry that I NEVER thought of, prior to entering it: working on all-new vehicles!!

My dream job was just to be able to walk into work every day and surround myself with bright, shiny, immaculate new cars - filling my lungs with 'new car smell.'

But now, I realize I also get the goodies of learning about model changes and updates months/years before the public (like the 2010 CRV), AND all-new vehicles that are launching for the first time.

It's exhilarating, really. It's something I've had to keep bottled up for so long, as soon as I'd clock out of work at the end of each day since February, because I had to keep to confidentiality clauses. And at work, everyone is used to it because of all of their years of experience, so the buzz dies quickly.

But me? I'm a young pup. I'm a greenhorn. This is my first time being a part of an all-new launch. The little dream girl inside of me, the college chump who toured EVERY Milwaukee Auto Show and two Chicago Auto Shows, is being unleashed.

We Hondroids call this Accord CrossTour the '2NX.' And I gotta say, I am really digging it.

It looks sharp. Sporty. My eyes get lost in its smooth, delicate paint job - all of the classy colors it comes in. I like the headlight bulbs. The center mount taillight is sick. It's taillights remind me of a Mercedes. And this vehicle is cut out to be our top-of-the-line Honda. Comes with all the bells and whistles - at Acura level quality. I am really excited and blatantly curious to see how it will do with sales. I'm also burning to know what each of you will think of it in October, when we start stuffing it into dealerships.

It is being built exclusively at my plant, and as a whole we are scrambling to launch it, building practice lots after practice lots. (Heck, today I toured around 25 of the fully-built cars, to measure gap and flushness data for the tailgate to the body.)

This has been my focus for the past few months. This project. This car. Bringing this car to life. :-) :-)

(NOTE: if you try to Google 'Accord CrossTour' to come up with some sneak-peak pictures, you'll get a horrible mix of right and wrong pictures. There's this traditional-looking station wagon with the Accord front fascia, posing as the CrossTour - but it's actually a European model. Those are the wrong pictures.

BUT, the pictures that surface with the cars all taped up, and with protective coverings on them - those are correct.)

That's probably already more than I need to tell you......but this job has turned out to be bigger, serious, and more fast-paced than I ever could have fathomed.

And I like it.

I am learning so much, and I remain thankful to Honda for giving me this fighting chance to enter into the automotive industry. I hope to do them right.



Look for the Accord CrossTour in dealerships this October!