Here is a nice article from Honda on the design philosophy and brainstroming that went to create mini-car. This car may hold key to Honda's future in emerging markets like India, Thailand, Brazil, China, Indonessia and Philippines.
Creating a new compact car for brand new markets.
Creating a new compact car for brand new markets.
Affordable pricing is of top
importance in helping as many people as possible experience the joy of owning
an automobile. At the same time, however, it costs money to realize Honda's
ideal of utility combined with excitement, stylishness and visual appeal. The
more complex in shape a car's exterior steel plates are, the more involved it
is to produce the molds for the plates, and the more expensive it becomes to
manufacture the car. Avoiding such complications can leads to a boxy-looking
car equipped with door mirrors, headlights and other functional parts that
fulfill their basic function but add nothing to style. The overall impression
can be cold and uninviting.
