Honda's all-new 2017 CR-V: Larger, lighter, turbocharged

Barely a week after Honda announced its CR-V compact crossover posted an all-time U.S. sales record for the month of September, the company revealed an all-new, fifth-generation 2017 CR-V that is larger than the outgoing vehicle, somewhat lighter and offers a turbocharged engine for the first time. Honda said the 2017 CR-V will be in U.S. showrooms in December.

With crossover models threatening to eclipse sales of perennially best-selling sedans in many car companies' model lineups, the CR-V is increasingly important in Honda's cosmos, said John Mendel, Executive Vice President of American Honda, at a press briefing in Detroit. In September 2016, sales for the incumbent CR-V surpassed Honda's Accord and Civic passenger cars-and the CR-V's year-to-date sales of 263,493 brushed ahead of Accord and trailed by just 20,000 units the Civic, which itself is experiencing one of its strongest-ever sales years.