TOKYO, Japan, November 18, 2011 - Honda Motor Co., Ltd. would like to express its deepest sympathy and condolences to the victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami.

On November 9, traffic information maps based on data collected via Honda's Internavi car navigation system and generated to assist people in the area affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami received the 2011 Good Design Grand Award^*1 from the Japan Institute of Design Promotion (JDP). Honda has now won the Grand Award twice, the first being for the Civic 25i 3-door hatchback in 1984.

Winning the 2011 Good Design Grand Award in the category of Design for Social Contribution Activity, the traffic information maps were based on floating car data received from the automobiles of members of Honda's Internavi Linc Premium Club car navigation system. Honda implemented the traffic information map initiative to support mobility in the region affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami.

With the goal of helping victims and those assisting them travel around the affected region more smoothly and efficiently, on the day after the disaster, March 12, 2011, at 10:30 a.m., Honda publicly released the applicable floating car data. Then, to help as many people as possible in the region understand which roads were passable, Honda partnered with Google and Yahoo! JAPAN on information solutions. Google began offering the "Google Passable Automobile Route Map^*2" on March 14, and Yahoo! JAPAN began offering the "Passable Road Confirmation Map" on its Loco Maps^*3 page on April 21. Starting April 27, again using Honda data, both companies added information about traffic jams to their information about passable roads.

Elaborating on its selection of Honda's traffic information maps for the Good Design Grand Award, the JDP Judging Committee said, "Since 2003, the Internavi, which features Honda's original interactive communications system, has used floating car data received from members to provide optimized driving routes. The power that Honda's traffic information data exhibited starting the day after the disaster is still fresh in our memory. This open information was of inestimable help to those driving with emergency supplies, volunteer groups and others involved with the disaster. Seeking to provide the most accurate data possible, Honda has continued to provide updated data for the preceding 24 hours every morning at 10:00 a.m., sharing it with those needing to drive in the affected region. Later, based on Honda's example, other automakers also shared its data. Perhaps no one could have anticipated that passable route data received from Honda's original interactive communication car navigation system could be used in this way in the event of an earthquake. Going forward, based on these results, we would like to see the Internavi system increasingly applied around the world when earthquakes strike. We members of the Judging Committee unanimously give this initiative our highest praise in recognition of Honda's many years of effort in this area and its service after the disaster."

Japan's only comprehensive program for the evaluation and encouragement of design, the Good Design Awards reward products not only on the basis of functionality, quality, safety and other criteria but also on their ability to guide users in choosing lifestyle solutions for the near future. For further information, please visit the website of the Japan Institute of Design Promotion (JDP): http://www.g-mark.org/?locale=en.