While Honda is already playing an important role in reducing the country’s dependence on foreign oil, the automaker isn’t about to rest on its laurels. In fact, Takanobu Ito, Honda’s president and CEO, recently announced that a slew of new vehicles will be headed to the U.S. market in the near future, all designed to provide customers with high-efficiency options to vehicles that run solely on internal-combustion engines.
Highlights of Honda’s future product plans include:
- Beginning later this year, the company will partner with groups like Stanford University, Google and the city of Torrance, Calif., in a demonstration program featuring battery-electric vehicles.
- Honda will deliver a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle to Torrance for a separate evaluation program, also scheduled to start before the end of 2010.
- A battery-electric commuter vehicle from Honda will launch in the U.S. in 2012.
- The same year also will see the introduction of the automaker’s new plug-in hybrid system for midsize and larger vehicles.
- Next year, the all-new Honda Civic family will offer the first hybrid vehicle to use the company’s lithium-ion batteries.
It’s a strong next step for Honda, which today offers one of the widest ranges of alternative-fuel vehicles in the country. It starts with a three-vehicle hybrid lineup featuring the Honda Civic hybrid, with an EPA line of 40 mpg city/45 mpg highway/42 mpg combined; the practical and affordable Honda Insight, boasting fuel-efficiency ratings of 40 mpg city/43 mpg highway/41 mpg, and, going on sale later this year, the stylish and sporty Honda CR-Z, capable of a surprisingly dynamic driving experience and EPA numbers of 35 mpg city/39 mpg highway/37 mpg combined. The expanded Civic lineup put pressure on competitors such as Ford, Chevy, Mazda, Nissan and Hyundai, Connecticut Honda Dealers say.
The Civic GX, which runs on compressed natural gas, is also available in a growing number of markets, and in select areas, the company offers the FCX Clarity fuel-cell vehicle. The Clarity is the only hydrogen fuel-cell in daily use, according to Honda Dealer Alexandria.
According to Ito, these moves are a part of Honda’s renewed commitment to building “attractive products using Honda’s unique technologies, knowledge and ingenuity,” and delivering them “without making our customers wait, and at affordable prices which make our customers happy with their purchase.” Nissan’s advantage with the Leaf is being first to market, Boston Nissan says.
And if vehicles like the Civic hybrid, Insight and CR-Z are any indication, there’s going to be a lot to be happy about.
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