The NEW Odyssey

Honda announced the redesign of the Odyssey at the Chicago Auto Show. With it's lower stance, wider body and generally more aggressive appearance the 2011 will definitely attract a larger market to the minivan.

The Reason for the re-design is to capture a large market of people who wanted the practicality of a minivan but didn't want that image.

Catalin Matel, the senior designer of the 2011 Odyssey, said that his team wants to:

"Redefine the Minivan"

Honda set out to achieve customer goals of better styling and appearance without sacrificing the things that have kept the Honda Odyssey #1 in its class for the past three years.

Those improvements include:

• Better Fuel Efficiency
• Better Handling
• Improved seating capacity (3 seats in middle row)

Changes that created these improvements were made the same way racing car teams improve their lap times. This is done by reducing wind resistance, lowing the center of gravity and modifying the on board computers. That is why Honda angled the A and B pillars, lowered the car's suspension and gave it a wider body.

Sleeker designs give a look which is more athletic and similar to that of the Mercedes-Benz R-Class than the traditional Honda minivan. The current Odyssey does 17 mpg city and 25 mpg hwy, Honda says that this new one will do 19 city and 28 hwy.

The new 2011 Honda Odyssey is rumored to hit our showroom floor between August and October.

Hondaongrand.com