Honda has launched a new mini-site - oh, excuse me, a mini-insight - that displays information about its hybrid vehicle lineup in all sorts of flashy goodness. Of course, the star of the show is the new Honda Insight, which was unveiled in Paris last week. On top of that, the dedicated site has information on the old Insight, the Accord hybrid, the Civic hybrid, the CR-Z and the Jazz hybrid, along with press releases from 2007 and 2008 about the latest models. To visit the site, go here and click on the "launch" button.

This is Honda's second major online development that features the Insight. The first is the Insight blog, "a Honda blog that follows the journey of our latest hybrid." Whether you prefer the chatty nature of the Honda blog or the more straightforward minisite, Honda wants you to know that their Prius-fighter has arrived online. We've noticed, but we're really waiting for the car to show up in dealer lots.

[Source: Honda]

If there's one vehicle that's leading the pack for "Car of the Future, Today," it's the Toyota Prius. The world's most popular hybrid will have it's own plug-in version sooner than expected, but the competition isn't waiting to try and take its hybrid crown. Honda's "Prius fighter" has been talked about for what seems like ages (spy shots here) and we're getting awfully close to seeing the real deal. We already know it'll look something like the fuel cell-driven FCX Clarity, but details beyond that are scarce. We had been told the reveal would happen at the Paris Motor Show next month, but word from Honda is that we'll now see it in just 48 hours when the concept version is revealed on Thursday, Sept. 4th. After that we can view the concept in person at the Paris show, and then the production version is expect to bow at the Detroit Auto Show in January.

Honda will begin selling the car early next year and word is that it will be affordable. While the official MSRP is still a long way off, Honda's UK environmental manager John Kingston told Just-Auto (sub. req'd) that it should not cost more than "traditional cars from rival manufacturers." Hybrid premium, what hybrid premium? On the technical front, the size of the car's revised Integrated Motor Assist (IMA) hybrid system has been reduced and the lighter powerplant will help push up its MPG numbers. What those are remains a mystery, but Honda is expecting to sell around 200,000 of these puppies a year, with half of those being bought in the U.S. Sounds good, now can we just see the thing already?

[Source: Just-Auto via CarScoop]

While many other car-makers (with the notable exception of Toyota) are jumping on the lithium ion bandwagon for new hybrid models, Honda will stick with nickel metal hydride for now. Honda President Takeo Fukui told Automotive News that lithium ion batteries are not yet reliable or durable enough for high volume applications. When Honda debuts a new dedicated hybrid model early next year to take on the Prius, it will continue to use nickel metal hydride batteries.

Honda hopes to top 200,000 annual sales with its new hybrid model, a car that is expected to be priced below the current Civic hybrid. Honda has chosen to use a lithium battery in its FCX Clarity fuel cell car, but those will be very low volume initially and much more expensive. The continued use of nickel probably has as much to do with cost as anything else at this point. Given Honda's price and volume targets, there is probably no lithium battery available right now to the meet the need. According to Fukui, the new model is being engineered to allow for a running change to lithium when the batteries do meet the company's specifications.

[Source: Automotive News - Sub. req'd]

A year ago at the Geneva Motor Show, Honda talked about producing a new hybrid-only model beginning in 2009. A concept version of that new car is expected to make its debut this September at the Paris Motor Show ahead of its production debut next year. The new hybrid-only model will be the first such car from Honda since the Insight went out of production in 2006. Honda has set themselves a goal of selling ten percent of their cars with hybrid power-trains by the end of the decade and, with the Civic currently being the only hybrid on offer, this new one will have to be a success if they hope to meet that goal. Conquering Europe, where hybrids have been slow to gain a foothold, will be important to Honda. The company plans on pricing the new car aggressively, somewhere in the range of €16,000 and €20,000. The Prius currently runs about €24,000 in Europe. The new dedicated hybrid will use a new version of Honda's Integrated Motor Assist system. The IMA system can't accelerate from a stop on electric power only. However at moderate constant speeds the engine can be shut down and, with the throttle open, the system can motor along on electric power alone.

[Source: Left Lane News]

While European automakers focus on diesels and American companies dip their toes into the hydrogen, biofuel and electric drive waters, Japan's two largest automakers seem to be gearing up for a big fight over who can sell the most hybrids. In two stories for Automotive News (subs req'd), writer Hans Greimel lays out the ways that Toyota and Honda want to win this war. The headlines tell the short version story: Toyota eyes 1 million in annual hybrid sales and Honda: Hybrid war has just begun. In effect, Toyota want to keep the Prius momentum going, Honda wants to copy and exceed.

Greimel explains that by the early 2010s, Toyota hopes to be selling us a million hybrids, with some of those being plug-in hybrids, a year. Something about the article (specifically this line: "Toyota will soon be testing plug-in hybrids in Japan, Europe and the United States") makes me wonder about whether this story is something of a holiday rehash - we know that Toyota has been testing the PHEV Prius in those three locations for a while now.

Honda, on the other hand, isn't convinced plug-ins are the way to go, but does want to get serious about "standard" hybrids. Honda CEO Takeo Fukui told Gerimel that, "The real competition [for hybrids] has just begun. Until now, it has been an image-based competition, not a business-based competition." Honda's first entrants will be a new dedicated hybrid (Fukui admits that the Civic hybird was a bust) and the hybrid CR-Z, both coming in 2009 or later. Game on!

[Source: Automotive News]

Toyota may have brought the first modern hybrid gasoline-electric car to market in Japan 10 years ago, but Honda beat them to the US market by a few months with the Insight. The Insight was discontinued last year after several years of slow sales. Same deal with the Accord hybrid. The Civic hybrid continues on at a reasonable pace, one that is considerably slower than the Prius. Earlier this year, American Honda Product Planning Manager John Watts indicated that the company was less enamored with hybrids than they used to be and more emphasis would be placed on diesels.

Watts said that Honda's hybrid efforts would be focused on smaller cars for urban environments while larger cars would use diesel engines. Honda apparently has big plans for the new small dedicated hybrid car that they will be introducing in 2009. Honda is targeting 200,000 annual sales for the new hybrid and hopes that ten percent of U.S. sales will be hybrids by 2010. The company's US sales are expected to hit 1.59 million in 2008. To help their future cars come to market, Honda is building a $424 million research center in Japan to develop alternative drive vehicles like hybrids and fuel cell vehicles.

[Source: CNN]

Hybrid car shoppers will have more choices than ever before in 2009 when Honda releases their new Prius fighter and the CR-Z hybrid sports car. Toyota has also publicly said that their next-generation Prius will go on sale in '09. Honda hopes to sell 100,000 of their dedicated hybrid family sedan in North America, and hopes to double that number when worldwide sales are tallied. Details remain sketchy, but as we've reported before, the CR-Z model is separate from their hybrid family sedan. They hope to price the sedan between the Fit and the Civic Hybrid.

The CR-Z is intended to be a sporty hybrid, and the weight of the battery is a big concern. Honda COO Takanobu Ito was interviewed at the Tokyo Motor Show and declined to comment on whether Honda plans on a lithium ion battery for their new hybrid models, but that would make a big dent in the weight problem.

Related:

• It's not just the FCX; the CR-Z is entering production soon as well

[Source: Auto News (sub. req'd)]

When Honda unveiled the sweet-looking CR-Z hybrid earlier this month, the general response was "gimme, gimme, gimme." Now, along with the announcement that the FCX will go into production soon, Honda is seeing the light with the CR-Z: it will enter production and be available for sale (maybe) in 2009. The two-seat CR-Z hybrid will not replace the upcoming "global hybrid" (which will be a family car) and will instead join it in the showroom.

The Environment Manager at Honda (UK), John Kingston, says in the press release (after the jump, folks) that, "Hybrids have always been seen as niche products, and hybrid car design has mostly been based around practicality and versatility. The CR-Z Concept looks stunning, and shows that green cars can be sexy and exciting – but also minimise environmental impact. The fact that we will be producing cars like this – and the global hybrid – proves that hybrid cars are becoming key volume products within our range. All of this means that Honda will be selling over 1/4 million hybrids a year by 2009." So, if you joined that "gimme, gimme, gimme" chorus, you'll soon have your chance to pony up.



[Source: Honda]

Although Honda has no plans to pursue plug-in hybrid vehicles for the time being and they aren't taking Toyota's shotgun approach of putting their hybrid system in everything they build, they haven't given up on hybrids. Honda is focusing their efforts where they feel they will be most effective. That means that larger cars, like the Accord, and crossovers and trucks will be getting clean diesel engines.

Smaller cars that mostly commute in urban areas will use hybrid systems because they are most likely to be able to take advantage of regenerative braking. Honda CEO Takeo Fukui spoke to reporters ahead of the Tokyo Motor Show about the new dedicated hybrid vehicle the company will introduce in 2009. Unlike the Insight, which had limited appeal due to its small size and only two seats, the new model will be larger and be built in much higher volumes. Honda is working aggressively to lower the cost premium of the hybrid system to no more $1,750 and down the road it could be combined with diesel engines for even greater efficiency.

[Source: Reuters]