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Honda launches cheapest hybrid
By Yuri Kageyama |
February 6, 2009, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
HONDA introduced yesterday the cheapest hybrid on the market, starting at 1.89 million yen (US$21,000) in Japan and under US$20,000 in the United States, hoping to turn around sluggish sales battered by the global downturn.
Even Honda Motor Co officials admitted the timing was tough for the Insight gas-electric hybrid, which hits showrooms in the middle of a devastating slump, especially in North America that's the main target market.
Also, oil prices have tumbled from their peak last July, detracting from the appeal of gas-sipping hybrids. Insight gets as much as 30 kilometers a liter, according to Honda.
"If the Insight had gone on sale a half year earlier, it would have been such a hot-seller," Norio Ano, who oversees auto matters at Honda, told The Associated Press.
The big appeal of the Insight, hybrid a five-door hatchback, is its pricing.
Details of overseas pricing are still undecided. But it's cheaper than Toyota Motor Corp's Prius, the top-selling hybrid, which sells for US$22,000 in the US and 2.3 million yen in Japan.
Hybrids are more costly than regular cars as they come with a gasoline engine and an electric motor.
Even Honda Motor Co officials admitted the timing was tough for the Insight gas-electric hybrid, which hits showrooms in the middle of a devastating slump, especially in North America that's the main target market.
Also, oil prices have tumbled from their peak last July, detracting from the appeal of gas-sipping hybrids. Insight gets as much as 30 kilometers a liter, according to Honda.
"If the Insight had gone on sale a half year earlier, it would have been such a hot-seller," Norio Ano, who oversees auto matters at Honda, told The Associated Press.
The big appeal of the Insight, hybrid a five-door hatchback, is its pricing.
Details of overseas pricing are still undecided. But it's cheaper than Toyota Motor Corp's Prius, the top-selling hybrid, which sells for US$22,000 in the US and 2.3 million yen in Japan.
Hybrids are more costly than regular cars as they come with a gasoline engine and an electric motor.
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