Posted by Mark Williams | December 18, 2015

The Honda Ridgeline will debut at the 2016 North American International Auto Show, once again, during Honda's press conference on Jan. 11. The new midsize pickup will have many of the same safety and innovative features that are also on the all-new Honda Pilot SUV, which debuted earlier this year. This latest model comes more than 10 years after the Ridgeline "concept" debuted at the NAIAS in 2005.

Honda's light-truck lineup has undergone a full reconditioning with the updated CR-V debuting last year, the all-new HR-V crossover, which is out now, and the all-new Honda Pilot, already a strong seller. This year has been a good one for Honda as light-truck sales are up 11.8 percent, all the more impressive given that Honda did not sell a 2015 model-year Ridgeline. Production for Honda's only pickup stopped near the end of 2014.

As if to prove how important this new vehicle is to Honda, it has announced the reveal of the Ridgeline's new advertising campaign will be during the third quarter of Super Bowl 50 on Feb. 7. Honda (like Nissan with its all-new Titan XD truck). The ads will promote Honda's newly redesigned pickup truck as engineered in Ohio and California, produced in Alabama and sold all over the country; that's not a bad strategy as the heat has been turned up in the midsize segment with the debut and success of the Chevrolet Colorado and the redesigned Toyota Tacoma. We should get our first opportunity to drive the new unibody midsize pickup (the only one in the segment) in early spring with the on-sale date not long after. Pricing information will be released closer to its on-sale date.

Whereas Honda showed an artist's rendition of the front end of the new Ridgeline last year, now we have a more real-world photo of the back quarter panel, hinting that the new truck will have a more conventional bed and "truck" look. To see the latest spy photos, click here.

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