HONDA NEWS QUOTES

"We have worked for a long time to give Honda a better image. Five years ago, our dealers would never have believed that we could lift Civic and CR-V prices by £4,000 and still command the secondhand values to back them up. But we did it - and now we intend to repeat the exercise with the Accord." Graham Avent, Honda UK corporate operations manager, explains the justification behind Honda's attack on the big German trio of Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz. -> Birmingham Mail

"There is a great deal of work to do over the two remaining tests before we head to Melbourne, but I am now happier in the car and have more confidence to push it to the limit." Jenson Button, Honda F1 driver, after much practice and testing ahead of 2008 Forumla 1 season. -> ITV-F1

"We made some good steps with the driveability this week which have given me more confidence getting on the power." Former Ferrari F1 driver and current teammate of the previously-mentioned Jenson Button, with just a few weeks until the first race of the season. -> ITV-F1

"That would represent a nine-yen weakening in the dollar and a 180 billion yen drag on operating profit. Can we offset that with an increase in vehicle sales? Like I said, next year is going to be a down year for us." Fumikho Ike, Honda's CFO, describing the situation that'll lead to Honda's revenue growth going AWOL until 2009. -> Guardian

"Considering the importance and competitiveness of the car industry, we are entitled to higher wages." Yuji Kato, president of the Confederation of Japan Automobile Workers' Unions, which is pushing for wage hikes from Toyota, Nissan, and Honda; where the union wants salaries to rise 1,000 yen monthly. -> Bloomberg