(October 8, 2015) TORRANCE, Calif. — After a major refresh for 2015 that brought a new powertrain, significantly enhanced exterior and interior styling and a long list of new standard and available features, the 2016 Honda CR-V returns with a new Special Edition (SE) trim and a lineup with a starting price of $24,395 not including destination charge.

The new Special Edition CR-V is positioned above the LX trim by adding larger 17-inch alloy wheels with an exclusive two tone finish, second-row and rear privacy glass, and security system. Honda says that with only an $800 premium over the LX, the SE represents a high-value proposition for the premium look and additional feature content.

The CR-V is a perennial favorite of American car buyers and at nearly 3.5 million units sold since its introduction in 1997, it is the segment's best-selling model of all time. In fact, CR-V is the best-selling SUV over the past two decades.

Since its introduction in October 2014 the refreshed 2015 CR-V has been on a record breaking sales run with nine of the last 12 months being best individual sales months for the model and August ranking as CR-V's all-time best month with sales of almost 35,000 units. The 2015 model also contributed to the best ever annual sales of over 335,000 CR-Vs sold in 2014. With year-to-date sales through September 2015 far surpassing the same period a year ago, CR-V is poised to set another all-time annual sales record and is on its way to six straight years of sales growth and four straight years of record-setting annual sales. Moreover, CR-V is the best-selling SUV in America to millennial buyers.

The new Special Edition (SE) trim is positioned between the LX and the EX and is available in front-wheel drive (FWD) and all-wheel drive (AWD) versions. Together with the top-of-the-line Touring version introduced last year that includes the Honda Sensing suite of safety and driver assistive technologies, CR-V is now available in 12 trim/wheel drive versions.

The 2016 CR-V is powered by an Earth Dreams Technology 2.4-liter direct-injected DOHC i-VTEC inline 4-cylinder engine that produces 185 horsepower and 181 lb-ft of torque. The engine is mated to a continuously variable transmission (CVT) that helped the CR-V receive EPA fuel economy ratings of 26/33/29 mpg (city/highway/combined) for front-wheel-drive and 25/31/27 mpg for the Real Time AWD models.