Honda Begins Hybrid Accord Sales In December - US Target 20,000 Units

[hatrack]

Sept. 17 (Bloomberg) -- "Honda Motor Co., the second-largest maker of cars powered by a mix of gasoline and electricity, expects to almost double sales of so-called hybrid cars next year with the introduction of a third model.

Honda will begin selling a hybrid version of its Accord sedan in December and has a target of 20,000 units annually, boosting the company's total sales of hybrid cars to about 45,000, company spokesman Andy Boyd said.

Honda lags rival Toyota Motor Corp., which sells about twice as many hybrids a year. Toyota's Prius hybrid has won celebrity customers such as Cameron Diaz and Leonardo DiCaprio with its fuel economy and styling. Honda has opted to produce hybrid versions of existing models rather than following Toyota's strategy of developing a new car to showcase its technology.

``Honda will probably remain in Toyota's shadow to some extent, given the demand for Prius,' said Brett Smith, an analyst with the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Still, ``both companies are now very far ahead of their U.S. competitors in this technology.''

EDIT

http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=aa_qRpqYBhrY&refer=news_index

On edit: Say goodnight, Detroit.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

1. We used to draw designs of this sort of thing in 5th and 6th grade

many many years ago... imagine my surprise when I went into a Honda Dealership 3 years ago... and saw my first Insight.



http://www.insightcentral.net/owners/brochures/

[hatrack]

2. Yeah, it's definitely got that Jetsons vibe

I was hoping they'd run commercials with Insight drivers shouting for someone to "stop this crazy thing!", but no such luck.

[NNadir]

3. This is great news. Toyota and Honda will leave their competitors in

the dust. Soon we'll be able to add automobiles to the list of things we don't make in this country.

[kestrel91316]

4. I believe Honda builds cars in the US for sale here,

not sure about Toyota

[hatrack]

5. Big Toyota presence in Ohio, Texas, California

Texas is a new truck plant and still getting up to speed, I think . . .

[NNadir]

6. Yeah, I know. It's not an absolute statement.

We even make some shoes, sneakers, and tee shirts in America still, but not much.

[NNadir]

7. It seems this car is designed to address a different issue than pure

fuel economy.

Honda's website is promoting it as a "Rocket" with a V-6, and making a wistful remark along the lines of "Remember when the open road actually seemed open? When the price of gas was almost an afterthought? Bring those feelings back with the powerful new Accord V-6 Hybrid."

http://www.hondacars.com/info/prototypes/accord_hybrid.asp?bhcp=1

Maybe they've hired some out of work MBA's from a paper shuffler producing university somewhere in the US, since they're managing here to market to Republicans, people who think we'd better use up as many resources and have as much self absorbed "fun" as we can before Jesus shows up driving a Hummer.

[hatrack]

8. ROFLMAO! "Before Jesus shows up driving a Hummer"

By the way, did your local paper (wherever that might be) run the full-page ad for the new Hummer fragrance for men yesterday?

[NNadir]

9. Thankfully I missed that here in New Jersey.

I might have had a stroke.

[SoCalDem]

10. Hummer Scent?? Would that be A.S.S.???

Ahhhnold Swartzenegger Sweat???

[theoceansnerves]

11. oh wow, a hybrid accord

that's pretty amazing.
i don't even know what the comprable domestic sedan is these days? i guess eventually detroit will be left with nothing but suvs and oversized trucks. i wonder if a hybrid minivan is in the works over there in japan, hmm...

[hatrack]

12. Already on the road in Japan - it's called the Estima

It's essentially a hybrid version of the current Toyota minivan available in the US, whose name escapes me at the moment . . . seats seven and still gets 35 mpg.

[david_vincent]

13. Well, Saturn is supposed to be coming out with

a hybrid Vue, a vehicle that's well suited to such an approach since it already has an infinitely-variable transmission (idea for which they stole from the early 60s Dutch car, DAF).