AUTOS

Ex-Dealer Settles Suit Against Honda: A former Honda dealer whose allegations of bribery at the auto maker triggered an FBI investigation has settled his lawsuit against the company. The FBI probe continues, however. Details of the settlement between Richard Nault and American Honda Motor Co. were not disclosed. Richard McNamara, Nault’s lawyer, and Honda spokesman Bob Butorac declined to comment. Two years ago, Honda reportedly turned down a proposed $9-million resolution of the suit, which was nearing trial in U.S. District Court in Concord, N.H., before Nault settled with the auto maker Friday. Nault claimed Honda undermined him after he spent $2.2 million opening an Acura dealership in Concord in the late 1980s. Acura is Honda’s luxury auto line. Nault said Honda promised him 150 cars when he opened, but provided only 20, later supplying only about one-third of the 75 cars per month he was to get afterward. Court papers indicate the dealership lost nearly $500,000 in the first 10 months of 1988. When Nault moved the Acura operation in with his nearby Lincoln-Mercury dealership the next spring, Acura cut off his supply.