From thecarconnection.com Dec 14th

HONDA PILOT: SUV FORM, MINIVAN FUNCTION
Slated for introduction at the Detroit auto show next month, Honda's new Pilot SUV was designed to "get the best of both worlds," by combining the looks and AWD of a sport-ute with the eight-passenger seating, cargo capacity and overall "family-friendliness" of a minivan. "People buying SUVs like the attributes of a minivan. They just don't like the image," Frank Paluch, project leader for the team that developed the Pilot, told TheCarConnection. Though it shares platforms with the upscale Acura MDX, the new Honda ute will be smaller on the outside yet roomier on the inside, with lots more of what Paluch called "stuffable storage." It will feature a less sophisticated version of MDX's 3.5-liter V-6, and boast a 4500-pound towing capacity. Scheduled for launch next summer, the Pilot will be built at the Canadian assembly plant currently producing both the MDX and the Odyssey minivan.