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Shaping up: slim and healthy
Development of the eighth generation came right after the bubble burst, and cost had to be kept firmly in mind. Cut too much and the car would feel cheap. Wanting to trim the fat from cars that had grown heavy and expensive during the bubble while keeping what was needed, Honda made "Shape up, slim and healthy!" the team's watchword. Because of local production in North America, the overseas models switched two years later, so he reorganized the plan to treat the domestic minor change two years on and the new overseas model together as the "8.5th generation."
