In what has been a busy day for Honda news, the Japanese automaker has announced a number of fuel-saving new products destined for North American soil: a redesigned version of its Fit to be released this fall; a clean diesel engine expected in 2009; and a hybrid-only model priced below the Civic Hybrid.
While the Honda Fit has barely been on North American soil for a year, it has been essentially unchanged world-wide since 2001. A new model will go on sale this fall in Japan, with U.S. sales following shortly thereafter. No specific details are known of the new model, but an optional hybrid powertrain is not out of the question.
The Detroit News is reporting that Honda will introduce a clean diesel engine for the North American market – one expected to meet California regulations – in ’09. The engine is expected to fit where Honda’s V6 engines fit now: the Accord, Pilot, Ridgeline and Odyssey, although we can’t confirm which vehicles will definitely get the engine. But Honda is not focusing entirely on diesel engines; the automaker will introduce a hybrid-specific model in ’09 that’s expected to cost less than the current Civic Hybrid.
Honda is taking a page from the Toyota Prius handbook of hybrids by introducing a mass-market model designed solely as a hybrid. Honda was the first to sell a hybrid in North America when it introduced the Insight, but that model’s compact, two-seat design made it hard to sell to a wide variety of buyers. Honda says that the new car will cost less than the Civic Hybrid, which currently stickers around $22,000 in the United States.
