Earlier this summer, we caught whiffs of rumormill pandering that Mugen was planning to launch a high-performance version of Honda's Civic Type-R. Those rumors are now facts as the well-known tuning firm has just announced that the Ultimate Civic Type-R is headed to a European country near you for a pocketbook-stretching £38,599 (that's $64,000 at current exchange rates, not that it matters).

Included for that whopper of a bottom line is a horsepower boost to 237 from the stocker's 198 along with a welcome 10-percent torque improvement across the rev range. New pistons, camshafts, intake manifold, and a stainless exhaust system are responsible for the added ponies while a completely revised suspension system with limited-slip differential take care of the handling mods.

Rounding out the package are a bespoke bodykit with a monster wing out back and forged alloy wheels capping four-piston mono-block racing brake calipers. Want one? Better get all your ducks in a row in short order – Mugen is only planning on building 20 Ultimate Civic Type-R hatchbacks.

We were frankly astounded that the prospect of a gutted Tokyo Motor Show didn't get any maker, save one, to trot out some of their historical home runs. Even if they didn't want to go in for a nostalgia-fest, a few brands could have at least peppered the show with some of Japan's seminal machinery. After all, if you're not going to give us anything really new and exciting, you could at least let us have some fun with the past.

But no. The only historic machine at an automaker's booth was a vintage Suzuki Alto near the new Alto Concept. Otherwise, nada. The other vintage machinery – a 1917 Mitsubishi A, a Toyota GT HYBD (a Sports 800 gas-turbine hybrid), and a Honda Accord CVCC – were in the "motor lounge" seating area. A big, fat raspberry is all we have to say to that.

You meet the greenest people on a Honda. Well, maybe not quite yet... but the World's Largest Motorcycle Manufacturer has signaled its intent to usher in a new era of electrically-powered two-wheelers, and a modern-day Cub seems like an excellent way to do just that.

Honda is showing a conceptual electric Cub as we speak at the Tokyo Motor Show, but strangely isn't letting out very much information about the machine. We know there's an electric motor powering each wheel and some kind of battery pack sitting in between somewhere in the frame rails, but that's about it.

Regardless of how little we know about the EV-Cub, it's a concept we wholeheartedly approve of. We're big fans of the original gas-powered 50cc model, which has been known to return well over 200 miles per gallon in daily use, and a thoroughly modern drivetrain seems like a fitting way to inject some new life into the old Cub.

If there is one thing humans love, it's personal mobility. After all, what other species regularly harness other creatures for the sole purpose of getting around. The auto industry is all about personal mobility. Since the dawn of the car in the late 19th century, it has been adopted world-wide as one of the preferred means of getting around.

Mobility, of course, is about a lot more than just driving. Just moving around is important and when people find themselves unable to move or having difficulty, it plays havoc with the psyche. A number of automakers are researching ways to expand mobility beyond the automobile and the result is projects like the GM Puma and Toyota Winglet. Honda, too, is studying the problem and while we were in Japan for the Tokyo Motor Show, Honda took us to their R&D center to check out a few recent projects, including the quirky U3-X (shown above). Read on for a first hand account of what we saw and sat on.

Following our time visiting this week's Tokyo Motor Show, we had the opportunity to sit down for a small group interview at Honda's world headquarters with freshly-minted CEO Takanobu Ito, who took over the reigns at Honda from Takeo Fukui just this past June. Among the questions posed to Ito-san was "When will Americans see another performance car from Honda?" Honda has a tradition of performance vehicles and motorsports participation that goes back to the earliest days of the company. Ito himself was the chief body engineer on the original NSX and was pivotal in the development of its lightweight aluminum structure and body.

Given his role in one of the more unique aspects of the NSX, it was interesting that Ito acknowledged that he personally made the decision to pull the plug last year on the new car that was being developed as a successor to the NSX. Ito actually sounded as though he was channeling Colin Chapman in explaining the philosophy of using low mass to achieve a good power to weight ratio on the NSX. That approach allowed Honda to create a car that was "easy to drive, good performance and at the same time it enjoyed very good fuel economy."

Honda officially took the wraps off a couple new motorcycles this week at the Tokyo Motor Show, and along with the hotly anticipated VFR 1200F, the retro-styled CB1100 is one bike that's receiving plenty of attention. We've been hearing rumblings that the new large-bore, air-cooled standard might make its way Stateside, and while that hasn't quite been confirmed by Honda, we've got our fingers crossed.

The CB1100 would mark the return of the classic Universal Japanese Motorcycle, more commonly known as the UJM, which was best exemplified by Honda's own CB750 series from the 1970s. As we've noted in the past, the Big Four have all but forgotten the UJM, which is a shame – there's an unfortunate lack of no-nonsense, reasonably-priced, do-it-all motorcycles offered here in the U.S.

Unlike the CR-Z which is nothing more than a thinly veiled preview of an upcoming production model, the Honda Skydeck remains a pure design study at this point. While most automakers would provide a full list of specifications for a concept that is nothing more than a fiberglass buck, Honda isn't bothering with even that. The only thing the automaker says about this Tokyo Motor Show star is that it's a theoretical hybrid.

The SkyDeck is a six-seat MPV with some oddball portals and interesting interior fitments. The front doors swing up Lambo style, while the rear sliders actually pop out like normal doors and drop down as they slide back, ideal for jamming against the curb.

Once inside, the first two rows of seats are cantilever mounted off of the center tunnel and the second row can slide forward and down to stow underneath the fronts. All the seats consist of a mesh material stretched between a wooden frame.
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Honda's new CEO Takanobu Ito started off his tenure at the head of the company today by unveiling a new plug-in battery electric concept. The EV-N showcar hides its futuristic electron pumping powertrain in a decidedly retro bodystyle thanks to a design reminiscent of the subcompact 600N of the Sixties.

Honda has yet to reveal much in the way of technical details about the diminutive hatch, but we do know it uses lithium-ion batteries and the electric motor drives the front wheels. The car can be started with a fob called the Loop that incorporates a display showing the driver know the battery pack's state of charge.

Not enough pint-size fun for you? Each of the EV-N's doors features a pocket that holds one of Honda's gyro controlled, omnidirectional U3-X unicycles.
 

Honda fans of all sorts have cause to celebrate today with the reveal of the 2009 iteration of the CR-Z coupe. In typical Honda fashion, this CR-Z remains a concept in name and detail only. What you see here is essentially the production coupe that will go on sale in Japan next February and then arrive in North America in the Fall.

The cool scoop-like grille from the original 2007 concept has been largely carried over, with the biggest changes being a somewhat taller roof and a more upright windshield with blacked out A-pillars – concessions to the fact that real people will have to fit into the production car. On the exterior, the only elements likely to change once it hits the assembly line are the side mirrors, which will probably be a bit larger, along with the internals of the light clusters.

The good news for fans of the much-loved 1983-1991 Civic CR-X is that the CR-Z should have significantly better performance than the disappointing new Insight, a car that is geared more toward fuel economy than performance. In any case, the CR-Z coupe gets a bump in displacement up to 1.5-liter and – wait for it – a six-speed manual gearbox! This will be the first hybrid with a row-it-yourself six-speed.

What goes up, must come down. And in this situation, Japan's yen has gone up when compared to our dollar -- about eight percent since August. And with the yen's rise in value, the profitability of low margin cars like the Honda Fit goes down. Built in Japan, with the yen up, the strong-selling Fit isn't making Honda any money. That's bad.

What if, like 80 percent of all other Hondas sold in the US, the Fit was manufactured right here? Well, that would certainly bring costs down and move Fit-related profits right back up. This switch could happen sooner than later, as Honda sales are down 25 percent over the first nine months of 2009, while Fit sales are only down 12%.

Honda president Takanobu Ito said the change from Japanese to American production a "highly likely possibility." Ito noted that Honda likes the current manufacturing ratio of 80 percent US20 percent Japan, but says that more hghi tech models (such as hybrids, maybe even sports cars) should come from Japan while the more basic, Fit-like stuff gets built here. Makes economic sense, no?