> Gruss wrote: > but we need to use cars to drive a renewable energy > solution - not dilute the need with palliatives. >
Honda's bringing game for ya though! ---- On Wednesday, Honda's President Takeo Fukui, in delivering the company's midterm speech, threw down the gauntlet to Toyota (nyse: TM - news - people ), seeking to mount a serious challenge in the hybrid cars segment. The weapon Fukui chose was a lineup of four models, including Honda's sole current hybrid in production, the Civic Hybrid; a new hybrid-only model yet to be named, which will be a five-door, five-passenger compact, with an exterior design similar to its new fuel cell vehicle concept, the FCX Clarity; a hybrid sports car version of its CR-Z line; and a new hybrid model for its Fit compact cars, sold as the Jazz in Europe. Sketches of Honda's new hybrid ideas first appeared as early as October of last year. (See: "Honda To Hit Accelerator On Hybrid Production") Consumers will not need to wait long. Fukui said the new five-passenger hybrid compact will go on sale in Japan, North America and Europe in early 2009, with expected annual global sales of 200,000 units. All told, Honda (nyse: HMC - news - people ) is aiming to achieve annual sales for all four models of about half of a million units some time beyond 2010. In short, Fukui concluded, the new hybrid strategy is to "achieve full-scale market penetration." The mass market approach promises to yield more affordable prices for its hybrid cars, narrowing the price premium to as little as 200,000 yen ($1,741.31), down from 500,000 yen ($4,834.42) now, Fukui remarked. On an earlier occasion, he had mentioned that the hybrid-only model would be smaller than the Civic Hybrid but would also cost about one-third less. By comparison, Toyota's top-selling hybrid, the Prius, just crossed the 1 million mark for worldwide sales last week. Honda's hybrid initiative is one of the three pillars of its three-year business plan that began April 1, which also includes expansion in the motorcycle business and innovations in manufacturing technology in its home base of Japan. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;192386516;25150098;k Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:260516 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
