The new Passport, launching early next year, expands on Honda's award-winning light-truck lineup, joining the HR-V, CR-V and Pilot as Honda's fourth SUV and its sixth light-truck model, including the Odyssey minivan and Ridgeline pickup. Passport was designed and developed in the U.S. by Honda R&D Americas and will be manufactured at Honda's Lincoln, Alabama plant. Honda brand light-truck sales are on track for a fourth-straight record year, on the way to top 700,000 units for the third year in a row and now accounting for more than half of the Honda brand's U.S. sales so far this year, with light-truck sales up 5.3 percent from year-ago results. Further strengthening its capacity to meet record demand for light trucks, in August Honda added production of the CR-V to a fourth North American plant, in Marysville, Ohio. The CR-V is now Honda's top-selling model and continues as the most popular SUV in America over the past 20 years. Earlier this year, Honda launched freshened versions of its Pilot and HR-V sport-utilities, with upgraded technology, expanded availability of Honda Sensing®, and more premium features. Strong demand for the Honda Pilot has sales up more than 41 percent for the first ten months of 2018.
