This will be a “highly affordable” subcompact model, slotting below the Honda Civic Hybrid in size (and presumably price).
This move is part of a strategy talked about in the past year by Honda, of splitting its alternative-fuel vehicles into two categories: hybrids for the smaller cars, and diesels for larger cars.
"At this moment, we say hybrid for small cars and diesel for large cars… but we have several other alternatives we are looking into," said Tetsuo Iwamura, in a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal. The other "alternatives" Iwamura referred to include flex-fuel vehicles powered by ethanol, and natural-gas powered vehicles. Honda already sells the Civic GX NGV, which is powered by natural gas.
Iwamura said that he projects sales of the subcompact hybrid to reach 100,000 in North America, and another 100,000 worldwide. Part of the reason it has projected such healthy sales lies in the fact that the new subcompact hybrid would have a much lower price premium than a Civic Hybrid.
There’s an extra $4000 in the cost of a Civic Hybrid compared with its regular gasoline-only counterpart. Honda would like the price premium of its new as yet unnamed subcompact model to be only $2000 more than a comparably-equipped non-hybridized engine. Popular options, such as a navigation system, can easily add $2000 to the cost of a vehicle, so Honda figures that people will pay $2000 more for the added benefits of a hybrid engine, such as greater fuel economy and lower emissions, not to mention those snazzy graphics on the instrument panel that show which engine is powering the vehicle at any given time.
The Honda executive said that he expects the cost of the new hybrid system to be lower than that of the Civic because they expect to sell so many of the new model. “It’s a hybrid for everybody,” he declared.
Iawmura also said that he thinks the time is ripe for Honda to introduce its new clean-diesel engine, which meets air quality regulations in all 50 states, to the North American market. This engine will go in Honda’s larger cars, trucks, and SUVs, giving them greater fuel efficiency than comparably-sized gasoline-engined vehicles.