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Honda's Euro Civic hatch getting facelift, too

Honda's freshening of the Civic line isn't just limited to the North American market, as proven by these images of the Euro-spec model testing on Her Majesty's motorways.
According to our spies, this new Civic boasts a heavily restyled front fascia, with headlights and taillights that draw a quite a bit of inspiration from the Civic Type R Concept from the 2014 Geneva Motor Show.
The restyled front fascia has a sportier lean, with more significant lateral intakes and what looks like a slightly larger lower intake. It's more difficult to make out details on the rear of the car, although we can spot a modest little diffuser and a larger integrated spoiler.

IIHS says these are the safest cars of 2013

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has revealed its annual list of Top Safety Picks, an award that highlights automobiles it says offer "superior crash protection." A new and still more significant award, the Top Safety Pick+ honor, is given to those vehicles that earn good ratings for occupant protection in four out of five areas of measure. And while some 117 vehicles were given the TSP seal of approval for 2013, just 13 passed muster for TSP+.
To be fair, IIHS only evaluated 29 vehicles with its new testing procedures for TSP+ (we'd expect that the number of qualified cars will rise substantially for 2014). Luxury and Near Luxury midsize cars were the first groups evaluated, followed by midsizers in the Moderately Priced Cars category - unsurprisingly, it's only midsize cars that you'll find among the class this year.
Only two luxury sedans made the list of 13 for 2013: the Acura TL and Volvo S60. The other 11 cars on the list included entries from domestic, Japanese and German car makers: Dodge Avenger, Chrysler 200, Ford Fusion, Honda Accord (sedan and coupe), Kia Optima (but not its close kin, the Hyundai Sonata, strangely), Nissan Altima, Subaru Legacy and Outback, Suzuki Kizashi and the Volkswagen Passat all made the grade.

Honda begins Micro Commuter testing

Autocar is reporting that Honda is about to start testing prototypes of its Micro Commuter, a petite EV that'll do adorable battle with the Renault Twizy if it reaches production.
Honda first showed the Micro Commuter, a so called super-urban vehicle, in November. Like the Renault, it features a 1+1 setup, meaning there's a central seat up front and a small backseat behind it. Honda has designed the tandem runabout for versatility, featuring a body that can be adapted for everything from child hauling to elderly passengers.
A rear-mounted electric motor draws power from a 15-kilowatt, lithium-ion battery, granting it a top speed of 50 miles per hour. With 37 miles of range, the Micro Commuter could be a neat urban solution. That said, these were figures that were announced in November, so we wouldn't be surprised to see them change as Honda gathers data from its new prototype testing program.