9 replies to this topic

[Megatron]

In the Thursday press conference, Mr Honda made some interesting commments that would lead me to believe they might be staying in F1 next year. But to whom? Could it possibly be Minardi? Renault have been iffy about a customer supply since they bought Benetton, so....maybe the Minardi will finally get the Mugen Honda engines they were supposed to have in 1995?

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Q. Mr Honda, is this a sad weekend? This is Mugen's last Japanese GP ...

Hirotoshi Honda: I understand already from the reports by the press in various magazines and newspapers that we will finish our F1 activity at the end of this year. But the point is - and this is very important for us - that we have never commented [about it] in public yet because we were in negotiations with Honda and Jordan. We are awaiting for a reply from Honda, and we will make an announcement at the next race. You will see then.

Q. This suggests that the Mugen company may still be working with Honda some way ...

HH: I am not saying anything today because there will be a more detailed announcement in Malaysia.

[Shut up]

I hear Toyota might need an engine in 2002......;)

[Timstr]

I don't think Mugen will individually supply engines.

I do think that Mugen will have a role in the logistics, maintenance, personnel etc... in the Honda effort to supply two teams starting next year.

[Cindy]

Maybe they would supply Minardi, that would be interesting. Maybe Honda would rebadge the Mugen units as Acura, their luxury and sporting division in the U.S.

[PDA]

It is very difficult to try and second guess this one. Mugen has, traditionally, had close ties with the Honda MC. It has been siggested that Honda MC were involved in "assisting" Mugen with this years engines, and that they felt that this was delaying progress with the "works" engine. If that was the case, maybe (a big maybe) Jordans engines next year will still be delivered via Mugen, but will be the same spec as the "works" engines. This might mean that Mugen will be involved in servicing and rebuilding the engines, maybe in the same way that Mecachrome used to do rebuilds for Renault. Certainly a very strange statement at the PC.

[G-R]

Originally posted by Cindy
Maybe they would supply Minardi, that would be interesting. Maybe Honda would rebadge the Mugen units as Acura, their luxury and sporting division in the U.S.

That's what I was just about to post. Wouldn't it be good if they supplied Minardi?

Minardi Mugen Honda.

[Dudley]

Why the hell would they rebadge them as Acura when it would be a brand that exists in 2 of the 17 places they hold grand prixs?

[Ray Bell]

Ah, an example of marketing strategies at work...

[Cindy]

Why would they badge them Acura? Maybe the U.S. GP for one. Acura is a highly known name here, and the U.S. is Honda's best market.

[green-blood]

eh hello, the whole ACURA rebadge makes lots of sense - In CART which is where Mugen will most likely operate. Honda want to seperate their guys, Honda factory - F1, let Mugen sort out the CART stuff, the basic package is fairly stable there. Hence the statements from both MDs at the PC