NEXT-generation Honda cars are set to be powered by the cleanest petrol engines in the world, the company claimed this week. On the eve of the Tokyo motor show, Honda president Nobuhiko Kawamoto hailed the latest powertrain developments as a technological breakthrough which had finally paved the way for the petrol-driven zero-level emission vehicle.

'A car with our latest technology could drive through a high smog area and its exhaust emissions would be cleaner than the surrounding air. The technology is feasible for mass production and it will be applied to our products,' said Kawamoto, when he claimed the ZLEV package of underbonnet advances almost completely eliminated harmful exhaust emissions by dramatically cutting carbon monoxide, non-methane organic gases and nitrogen oxide levels.