Honda loves hybrids. No they don't. Yes they do!
Toyota may have brought the first modern hybrid gasoline-electric car to market in Japan 10 years ago, but Honda beat them to the US market by a few months with the Insight. The Insight was discontinued last year after several years of slow sales. Same deal with the Accord hybrid. The Civic hybrid continues on at a reasonable pace, one that is considerably slower than the Prius. Earlier this year, American Honda Product Planning Manager John Watts indicated that the company was less enamored with hybrids than they used to be and more emphasis would be placed on diesels. Watts said that Honda's hybrid efforts would be focused on smaller cars for urban environments while larger cars would use diesel engines. Honda apparently has big plans for the new small dedicated hybrid car that they will be introducing in 2009. Honda is targeting 200,000 annual sales for the new hybrid and hopes that ten percent of U.S. sales will be hybrids by 2010. The company's US sales are expected to hit 1.59 million in 2008. To help their future cars come to market, Honda is building a $424 million research center in Japan to develop alternative drive vehicles like hybrids and fuel cell vehicles.
[Source: CNN]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Joseph 3:41PM (12/21/2007)
It may seem like Honda is iffy about hybrids considering their history, but to me it seems like they're still on track.
The Honda Insight (one of my favorite cars) didn't fare too well. The purpose of the car, to me, was for Honda to make a name for itself in the green car world as they have been doing for decades. The Insight was a buzz for a little while, but the Prius has totally taken that, and now Toyota has the green halo instead of Honda. Selling very, very little they dropped the car. The Accord Hybrid, als sold terribly and only gave Honda some recognition, so they dropped it. The Civic hybrid has had good sales. Honda hybrid concepts shows that they are still very intersted with hybrids.
From the ABG interview Honda said they didn't like hybrids for Acura. Acura sells powerful, large cars. The Accord Hybrid (a large powerful V6 hybrid) sold badly, so why would they want to do it again with Acura?
Honda still "loves" hybrids. For their Acura division, they believe diesel is a better way to go considering their history with the Accord hybrid.
At least that's how I see it. Car companies have too many people to be able to group the entire company's beliefs or opinions.
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mike 3:14PM (12/21/2007)
Honda's shareholders should be asking who are the suckers paying for Hydrogen Fuel Cells? If Honda isn't getting a kick-back from Big-Oil then there a serious question about the quality of leadership of the company.
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small-wee-wee 5:16PM (12/21/2007)
The Hybrid Civic sales are so so for several reasons. Honda's IMA (hybrid drive) system is not as sophisticated as the Toyota's synergy drive and the lack of a fold down back seat due to battery pack placement really hurts the cargo handling flexibility of the vehicle. Put those two together plus lower MPG and the same price point as the Prius and you get lack luster sales. I have high hopes for the 2009 "Insight" I've been putting of buying a new car expecting something wonderful. I hope I am not going to be disappointed.
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Tim 10:11AM (12/22/2007)
Yet more proof that GM is going to once again take its rightful place as the industry leader... hopefully.
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