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passenger seat down and managed to put a 9-ft surfboard in his Fit along with two 6-ft boards.) Achieving the spaciousness wasn't all a matter of coming up with clever seats. Various aspects of the car were examined, both inside and out. The fuel tank, for example. The Fit has had a center-located fuel tank rather than locating it at the back of the vehicle. For the 2015 model, they redesigned the tank so that it is lower and wider than the previous generation's tank (and, at 10.6 gallons, actually a gallon smaller, but the improvement in fuel efciency makes up for the diference). Previously, the tank was located between the foor frames; now the tank is above the frames. Approximately 1 in. of vertical room is achieved through this tank redesign. There is a narrow, single fan radiator used. This contributes to an engine bay that is some 4 in. shorter than the previous model, and this helps provide additional room in the cabin. The wheel arch design is modifed such that less space is required to attach it and the rear suspension trailing arm is shortened, both of which help improve rear passenger leg room. Small things contribute to a bigger package. According to Rick Schostek, executive vp, Honda North America, one of the issues that Honda faced with the Fit in the U.S. market is that as it was being produced in a plant in Japan, which was serving a variety of other countries, as well as the U.S., there was a capacity constraint. Hayama points out that according to projections from IHS Global Insight, the subcompact market is expected to grow 3.6% by 2019, which is more than double the rate that the overall car segment is projected to grow (1.64%). All of which means that Honda needed more capacity for the Fit, so they built their eighth plant in North America, in Celaya, Mexico. This $800-million (U.S.) plant will have a 200,000-vehicle capacity when it is fully operational. It is specifcally designed to produce subcompact vehicles, the Fit, as well as a crossover that Honda will be building on the Fit platform later in 2014. It should be noted that Honda sells some 5.16-million Fits globally, and with Celaya, has 11 plants building the product. The "mother plant" for the Fit—the plant where the initial production was carried out—is the Yorii plant. Much of the technology in that plant is replaced in Celaya, such as a high-speed servo stamping press and a high-speed die change process. Honda has always been fast on its die changes. They're claiming that with the processes they're now deploying, the efciency in stamping is improved by 40%. While new plants tend to have a high number of robots as a bragging point, in the case of the Celaya plant, they are deploying a new general welding system that reduces the number of robots needed to assemble the body panels to the inner frame while increasing the number of spot welds used to assemble the car. The paint shop in Celaya has a 3-coat/ 2-bake water-based process rather than a traditional 4-coat/3-bake process. In this case, there is a 40% reduction in energy consumption and an improved fnish for the vehicle. For both weight savings and safety enhancement, there is an extensive use of high-strength steel in the Fit, with 27% of the body being built with steel that's 780 MPa or higher. This helps reduce q They call the second row the "Magic Seat." Note how the 60:40 split seats fold fat into the foor. The car ofers 52.7-ft 3 of cargo space. One reason there is plenty of room on the interior is by having the fuel tank centrally located, approximately beneath the front row. While this is not new for the Fit, for the 2015 model they made the tank even lower in height. AD&P; > June 2014 > FEATURE > 2015 Honda Fit: Small without Compromise > Gary S. Vasilash > gsv@autofeldguide.com 22 AD&P; > June 2014 > FEATURE > 2015 Honda Fit: Small without Compromise > Gary S. Vasilash > gsv@autofeldguide.com 0614ADP FEATURE Honda Fit.indd 22 5/21/2014 12:51:28 PM