New Honda CR-V officially in production

There is a new kid in town at Honda, except it is not entirely new. It just went to school abroad for a year and came back. That’s what the 2017 Honda CR-V feels like to me. The fifth generation of Honda’s popular SUV, second best seller to Canada’s favorite sedan, has received some noticeable changes for 2017. The newest CR-V is bigger and bolder with a fresh face, a new platform and a longer wheelbase, stretched by 40 mm. On the inside, there are a flight of new features, plus Honda’s new 1.5L turbo engine introduced last year. In CR-V trim, it is tuned up to deliver 190 horsepower and 179 lb-ft of torque. Oh, and good news! The volume knob is back.

Honda Canada officially launched production of the new model at a recent Honda CR-V celebrations event hosted at the manufacturing facility in Alliston, Ontario, just north of Toronto. The Ontario-based plant is responsible for manufacturing the tenth-generation Honda Civic and of course, the new CR-V. The celebration was an opportunity for Honda Canada Manufacturing to place their team of associates in the spotlight and acknowledge all their hard work in building the next-gen CR-V. Very little media representatives and dignitaries were present: it was all about the people on the front lines.

After a few enthusiastic words by Honda Canada Manufacturing plant 2 manager  Kevin Mullins, HCM President Tsutomu Morimotto and Honda Canada senior vice-president Dave Gardner, the 2017 Honda CR-V received a worthy reveal to the sound of Bruno Mars’ 24k Magic. The ceremonial handing over of the keys from manufacturing to sales gave the symbolical green light to fire up the production line and start shipping to the dealers.

With a little inside help, I was one of the lucky few to receive an invite from a friend who thought it would be cool to witness how Honda does things away from the usual media spotlight. He was right! Once the new CR-V came out from behind its curtain, a group of smiling and seemingly happy workers gathered around the vehicle to take pictures on their own and were even invited to take selfies. The 2017 Honda CR-V starts shipping on December 21st and is expected to arrive in showrooms beginning in the new year. Pricing starts at $26,690 CDN.