Honda to roll out low-cost hybrid models

Japans Honda Motor Co. will be launching a new, low-cost hybrid car in Japan, North America and Europe in early 2009 as it seeks to cut the lead of Toyota Motor Corp. in the green car race. The new modelto be sold solely as a hybrid, and not as a traditional, gasoline-powered caris a key part of Honda Motor Co.’s strategy for the next three years that President Takeo Fukui outlined at Tokyo headquarters. It will be a five-door sedan seating five passengers, and feature new technology that reduced the size and weight of the hybrid system to increase fuel efficiency. Despite the pressure of record-high oil prices and concerns over climate change, fuel-efficient and low-emission hybrids still occupy a small niche in the global car market, partly due to their higher costs for both consumers and automakers. Japan’s top two automakers lead the industry in the fuel-saving technology, which runs on both electricity and gasoline, but Toyota has dominated sales with its groundbreaking Prius model, which is only available as a hybrid. “It is important to move hybrid vehicles from the current image-oriented stage to the new stage toward full-scale penetration,” Fukui told a news conference. A new production line for electric motors will be added at Honda’s Suzuka factory in western Japan. (May 21/22, 2008)