Honda announces the launch of All New Pilot

Honda Motor Co. Africa and the Middle East Office announced the launch of All New Pilot at a press conference at Intercontinental, Dubai Festival City today.  Available across all Honda showrooms in the GCC, Lebanon and Jordan, the third generation Honda Pilot brings a new standard of comfort and quality to SUV driving. With its comfortable seating up to eight passengers, Honda Pilot has helped set industry standards in fuel efficiency, spacious and luxurious interiors and now also boasts of highly improved  off roading performance with Intelligent Traction Management vs existing Pilot. 

Exterior Styling: 

The Pilot has been completely restyled with a bold, new front grille and flowing, elegant lines of a sport coupe. The new premium features include Halogen projector headlights in EX and EXL grades whereas LED projector headlights in Touring grade, first ever panoramic glass roof on the Touring grade embodies the vision of blue skies for our future generation.  All New Pilot has a wide, low stance contributing to improved aerodynamic performance, while large-diameter 18-inch or 20-inch Alloy wheels add a classy look. Some of the other features standard in all grades includes Front Fog Lights, LED Tail Lights and LED daytime running lights as standard along with Tailgate Spoiler, Power Door Mirrors and LED Turn Light Indicators. 

Interior Styling: 

The interior styling of Pilot reflects luxury and convenience with a refined new cockpit design, sumptuous beige and black leather seats coordinated with exterior colors, and upscale cabin amenities. An 8-inch touchscreen Display Audio, standard in all grades, gives you instant access to audio system controls and other display features. There's also cruise control for fatigue-free long-distance driving. For the first time, the Touring grade includes second row captain’s chairs, which aim at enhancing comfort and providing easy walk through between the second and third row for a 7 passenger configuration. Another notable feature in the EX-L and Touring grade is the one-touch second row seats which enable passengers to have easy access to the third row seating. 

Other amenities include tri-zone automatic climate control, rear air conditioning duct in the second and third row seats, rear door sunshades which protect passengers from the harsh sun in this region, sun glass holder and conversation mirror, cargo area hidden storage for extra luggage, active noise control (ANC) for a quieter cabin, and a rear entertainment system with a 9 inch display screen available in the Touring grade. 

Power Train: 

The Pilot boasts of a 3.5-liter Direct Injected V6 engine with Variable Cylinder Management (VCM).It starts up at the press of a button, and with maximum output of 280 horsepower at 6000 rpm and maximum torque of 355Nm at 4700 rpm. The Pilot boasts of an engine that combines outstanding fuel efficiency with quick, responsive acceleration and ultra-smooth power delivery. The fuel efficiency for the Pilot in GCC is 11.4Km/L for the 2WD and the 10.8 Km/Lfor the AWD. 

The Pilot’s newest feature includes INTELLIGENT TRACTION MANAGEMENT and is now featured on all models except EX 2WD, with pushbutton mode selection and TFT mode display on the cockpit instrument panel. In addition, EX (AWD) & EXL grades offer a full 200mm of ground clearance which enables the vehicle to adapt to any terrain. The most noteworthy feature is the sand mode which enables the Pilot to be driven in the sand.

Body and Safety

The New Pilot is available with most comprehensive set of advanced safety and driver assistive technologies. EXL and Touring grades of the New Pilot feature ‘Remote Engine Start’ that lets you start the engine from a distance, enabling automatic climate control system to regulate cabin temperature to ensure maximum comfort before you even get in. Electric Power Steering, One Push Start System, Cruise Control on steering wheel, a Multi- Angle Rear View Camera are some of the technologies that the All New Pilot is equipped with to aid driving comfort. 

In addition Honda Pilot utilizes Honda’s Advanced Compatibility Engineering™ (ACE™) body structure technology to enhance occupant protection and crash compatibility. It also boasts of Honda active-safety features such as Vehicle Stability Assist (VSA) with Traction Control Systems (TCS), Anti-Lock Brake Systems (ABS), Electronic Brake Distributor (EBD), Hill Start Assist (HSA), Agile Handle Assist (AHA) and Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS). The inclusion of these safety technologies benchmarked New Pilot to receive a 2015 TOP SAFETY PICK+ rating from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) in United States of America, making it one of the safest car amongst its segment.

Grade and Color Availability: 

The All New Honda Pilot now comes in four grades for this region with the introduction of the new base grade EX in 2WD and the others namely EX, EX-L and Touring which are in AWD. The All New Honda Pilot will be available in the below exterior colors 

1. White Diamond Pearl 
2. Lunar Silver Metallic
3. Modern Steel Metallic
4. Steel Sapphire Metallic
5. Dark Cherry Pearl
6. Crystal Black Pearl
7. Black Forest Pearl
8. Obsidian Blue

All come in beige interior colors with the option of White Diamond Pearl and Lunar Silver Metallic in black interior as well. 

For more information, please visit www.honda-mideast.com.