Honda plans 3 new hybrids by 2011

Toyota Motor Corp. may be dominating the U.S. hybrid market so far with the Prius, but Honda Motor Co. has ambitious plans for its hybrid lineup, adding two new hybrid-only vehicles and an upgrade of an existing hybrid in the next three years.

Honda officials at the North American International Auto Show said today the company was on track to deliver in 2009 a new dedicated hybrid priced below the Civic hybrid, which starts at $22,600. It expects to sell 200,000 of the new hybrid-only vehicle worldwide in the first full year, including 100,000 in the United States.

In addition, Honda President Takeo Fukui said the next-generation Civic hybrid and the CR-Z, a hybrid sports car on display at this year’s Detroit show, are expected by 2011. Honda has not said whether the CR-Z will be available in the United States.

“Around 2011, all those three models are ready to go, so we’ll be achieving 400,000 to 500,000 global production" of hybrids, said Fukui, speaking through an interpreter.

Honda did not give pricing details, but Fukui said the new models should be more affordable than current hybrids.

“These models we worked on the cost to reduce their costs because MSRP is very important to customers, so we think these vehicles will be very appealing," Fukui said. More at Detroit Free Press