The Honda Pilot is a large crossover, and Honda's second SUV fully built and designed
by Honda. The Pilot was released in the summer of 2002 for the 2003 model
year to replace the body-on-frame Passport. The Honda Pilot is built in Lincoln,
Alabama and was built in Alliston, Ontario, Canada up until April 2007. The Pilot
is now built exclusively at the Lincoln, Alabama plant. The Pilot shares underpinnings
and the powertrain with the Acura MDX, which has a lineage that can
be traced to the Honda Odyssey minivan. The Pilot’s unibody construction and
independent suspension is designed to provide handling similar to that of car,
however it is also fortified with integrated perimeter frame rails, which helps
it withstand light off-road use.
The Pilot was designed to fill a large
American demand for SUVs. Prior to the introduction of the Pilot, Honda only
had the compact crossover CR-V based on the Civic, and the aforementioned Passport
which was a rebadged Isuzu Rodeo that was sold only in the United States
from 1994-2002. The truck-based Passport was Honda's first SUV but it was intended
as a quick-fix, as the company recognized the competition from other refined
mid-sized SUVs and crossovers. The Acura MDX-based Pilot offers features that
many American consumers looked for in an mid-sized SUV, which are overall size,
passenger space, off-road use, and towing capacity. The second-generation Pilot's
four-wheel drive system enables it to wade through 19 inches of water.[1]
The
Pilot has been a critical and commercial success for Honda, selling
over 100,000 vehicles in 2004, an increase of almost 20% over 2003.[1] For
2006, the Pilot received new front and rear fascias, a redesigned interior, and
various standard safety features. The second generation Pilot was released in
late 2008 for the 2009 model year.
The Pilot is sold in North America,
while Japan and Australia get its relative, the Honda MDX instead. In the Middle
East, the Pilot is sold as the Honda MR-V. The second generation 2009 Pilot
is also available in Russia and Ukraine. |
