Honda hybrid plan bets big on small cars

Don't expect big and bulky hybrid vehicles from Honda Motor Co. soon.

"The company plans to put hybrid systems into compacts and subcompacts because that's where the green technology achieves its greatest efficiencies", said Masaaki Kato, president of Honda R&D Co., the automaker's product development arm.

Honda

This strategy of Honda is really different from their rivals that set off and make all their luxury sedans and SUV a family of hybrid vehicles.

Toyota Motor Corp. is making it's next generation Prius 2010 model, bigger than the current one. They will also introduce the Lexus hybrid at the Detroit auto show in January.

Nissan Motor Corp will concentrate on their first in-house hybrid which is the Infiniti. Ford Motor Corp and General Motors will have their focus on the production of their hybrid SUVs and pick-ups.

Honda's biggest hybrid is the Civic. And in the future, it's all about getting smaller.

Next year, these are the plans of Honda  Motor Corp. They will have the hybrid model which is smaller than the current Civic. After that, a much smaller sports hybrid  and Autopartswarehouse is excited with this one, the CR-Z. And by 2012, a hybrid Fit will be added to the production.

Any chance of revisiting the Accord Hybrid or rolling out something bigger? "Not in the near future," says Kato.

Kato says hybrid systems are best used in small cars because small hybrids most often are used for city driv-ing, where regenerative braking constantly recharges the batteries.

"Cars that drive stop-and-go are most suitable to hybrid technology," Kato said.

The first test for its hybrid strategy comes in April, when Honda launches its highly anticipated dedicated hybrid to take on the Prius. The car will be priced below the Prius — and, not surprisingly, it will be smaller.

Can't you see that cars in the future will be smaller hybrids which is much better than trucks and SUVs. You can do the same thing to your smaller sedans that you can't do to this big vehicles plus you already have a hybrid car. Hope this wouldn't cost too much.