Twenty-four hours before Honda officially reveals its new, affordable family hybrid, Honda UK environmental manager John Kingston told me: “This is a car that will change customer perception of hybrids.”
Speaking in Frankfurt at the launch of the new Jazz, Kingston explained the new car — whose name will not be revealed until tomorrow and will not be officially unveiled until the Paris Motor Show next month — will go on sale in September next year. It will also be a compact five-door hatchback in contrast to previous four-door Civic saloon hybrids.
He also explained the car’s styling is based on the FCX Clarity fuel cell concept already displayed at motor shows and now being leased to selected Hollywood stars in California.
“It is a very important car for Honda and our future direction,” Kingston continued. Our aim is to widen the customer base for hybrids and allow customers to choose cars like this for their economy benefits. Our specific aim is to have no price premium over traditional cars from rival manufacturers.
“This is key for us and to achieve this hybrids have to be made more affordable: the key barrier to hybrid sales is price and we want to break that barrier.”
The new car, which will be built in Suzuka, will see major developments to the hybrid powertrain, with the key components made more compact and placed under the cargo space instead of behind the rear seats, as in the current Civic IMA.
Honda predicts its annual hybrid production levels at the Japanese plant in Suzuka will rise from 70,000 to 250,000 units, and the manufacturer is confident it can achieve annual global sales figures of 200,000 units of the new model. Around 50% of those will be in America.
Three more hybrids — a sports car and versions of the Civic and Jazz —will join the family newcomer by 2010 and are jointly expected to boost Honda’s hybrid sales to 500,000 a year.
To put into perspective just how challenging Honda’s new hybrid goals are, it’s worth noting that currently the manufacturer sells four million cars each year, but since launching its first hybrid — the Insight — nine years ago, it has only sold 240,000 hybrids.
JM