The designers at Honda’s advanced design studio in Pasadena decided to take advantage of the packaging flexibility afforded by a fuel cell powertrain and mounted it mid-ship driving the rear wheels. Using the vertical flow fuel stack mounted behind the driver and an electric motor between the rear wheels, the FC Sport is a three-seater in the style of the McLaren F1 where the driver sits in the middle of the car with the two passenger seats on either side and further back. The FC Sport is strictly a styling study right now, but we wouldn’t be surprised to see a fully functional version at some point.

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The Cologne Motorcycle Show is taking place this week. The show is also known as The Intermot and it’s the place where Honda has unveiled an amazing looking motorcycle concept. Its called the V4 because of the engine configuration. The key thing here is that this is still nothing more than a concept at this point. Once you get a closer look at the images of the V4 you’ll see that the tires and wheels aren’t functional and the same can be said for the engine. But the focus is the construction of Honda’s four-cylinder V-engine that’s been built with oval pistons. It’s designed to combine Honda’s history of V4 engine race bikes over the past 60 years and the modern bikes that Honda is working on now.

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When it was introduced in 2008, the brand-new Honda CBR1000RR, known as Fireblade across the pond, won accolades from the the press and regular riders alike. Considering its market domination over the last year, we wouldn’t be surprised if Honda simply left things pretty much alone for ‘09. There is one new feature, though, and it’s a biggie: optional ABS brakes. This will be the first application of anti-lock brakes in a machine of this caliber, and early reports indicate that people are seeing improved lap times as a result. In addition to the brakes, expect to see some color changes and a Repsol race edition.

Moving on to Honda’s smaller-bore machine, the CBR600RR will also get optional C-ABS along with engine changes designed to improve torque right in the middle of the power band, between 8,000 and 12,000 RPM. Along with these changes comes revised styling with flashy colors pulled straight from the mid-’90s. Apparently, neon green and electric blue are back.

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When Honda introduced the OSM concept at the British Motor Show in July, many people saw it as a styling exercise for the next-generation S2000. However, truth is that the OSM is a roadster concept of Honda’s next hybrid sportscar, the CR-Z, due for launch in 2010 –see details of the CR-Z here and of the OSM here. A member of the Greek forum 4Troxoi that goes by the alias “Morpheus” decided to prove this by showing us what the OSM Concept would actually look like if Honda’s intentions were to preview the second-generation S2000. Simply by changing the OSM’s overall proportions and especially with the low slung, elongated front-end, the artist actually managed to transform the concept into a RWD-like roadster that could indeed pass for the future S2000. Not bad, wouldn’t you say?

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First Honda said it was going to press the reset button on its hybrid efforts and come out with something bolder than the Civic Hybrid. Then it laid out plans for a number of hybrids that would be priced considerably more aggressively than the Toyota Prius. One of the concepts, the funky CR-Z, has already got people abuzz.

More details have emerged about the first hybrid to appear, a 5-door hatch with unique styling that’s based on the Fit, but three inches taller and one inch wider. It will use the Civic Hybrid’s Integrated Motor Assist technology and mate that car’s 1.3-liter engine with 94 hp to a 15kW electric motor powered by a nickel-metal-hydride battery pack. Fuel economy, according to insider predictions, will be somewhere around 71 - 82 miles per gallon, but that’s based on Japanese domestic use. Expect a drop for U.S. comparison.

Honda is considering a return to the name “Insight” for its first new hybrid, which we’re all for. The Insight was a brilliant little ride, and we never understood why Honda let it go. Though it was low on practicality with only two seats and not much storage, it was a purpose-built vehicle for big mpg numbers. This potential new Insight will be Honda’s global hybrid, and the company expects to sell 100,000 of them in the U.S. annually. Add this to the other three hybrids Honda is planning, and Honda’s hybrid future — assuming it delivers as promised — looks quite bright.

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Many motorcycles in today’s market feature anti-lock brakes, including models from Honda like the Interceptor and Silverwing scooters. Now, though, the red-winged manufacturer of motorcycles has announced a new system which completely removes the rider’s direct connection with the front and rear brakes. Instead of a cable connection, the system uses brake-by-wire technology and allows an on-board computer to apply pressure to both the front and rear brakes as it sees fit. This new system is expected to debut on sportbikes first, which raises some eyebrows in the cycle-riding community. The highest performing bikes have ridiculously powerful brakes which are capable of locking up the front tire very easily. Still, hardcore riders have proven very reluctant to give up any control to computers, especially on race tracks, where supersport bikes are expected to thrive. Being Honda, though, there is a prevailing sense that the technology will work. Expect the new combined ABS system to proliferate to all of Honda’s two-wheelers in the near future.

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Last November at the 2007 SEMA Show in Las Vegas, Hot Wheels unveiled a troop of concepts to celebrate its 40th anniversary. These new Hot Wheels cars were not designed by everyone’s favorite 1:64 scale model toy maker, but rather were all new designs penned by designers from Lotus, Chevy, Ford, Mitsubishi, Dodge and Honda. The Lotus Concept, Mitsubishi Double Shotz, Dodge XP-07, Gangster Grin from Ford, Chevroletor (GM), and Honda Racer, along with Hot Wheels’ own HW-40, are going on tour around the United States in August, so keep an eye out.

The first of these concepts to actually become a toy will be the Honda Racer, the design of which is inspired by the ‘H’ in Honda’s corporate logo. There’s room for a driver and navigator in the side-by-side shape of the concept that features a paint scheme inspired by Honda’s participation in F1 back in the day. A fictitious Honda V10 VTEC that displaces a theoretical 2.0L per cylinder (that’s a 20-liter engine for those keeping score at home) powers the red-and-white racer. The Honda Racer’s design, Guillermo Gonzalez, says rather than bean counters and engineers imposing restraints on his creativity, the only parameters when designing his Hot Wheels car were that it had to fit in the trademark orange track and be able to do a loop. With a 20L V10 and the assistance of good old gravity, we’re sure a loop is well within its means. You’ll be able to buy the Honda Racer next month when it begins arriving on store shelves in May. Until then, check out the high-res shots Honda released of the Honda Racer in our gallery below.

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