Honda Plans To Crank Up Volume With 2009 Release Of Hybrid-Only Family Sedan - Reuters

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TOKYO - Honda Motor Co will start churning out gasoline-electric hybrid cars in large volumes in earnest with a hybrid-only family car planned for a 2009 launch, Chief Executive Takeo Fukui said on Tuesday. Japan's second-biggest automaker ranks a distant second behind Toyota Motor Corp in the hybrid market, now selling only the Civic hybrid after discontinuing production of the Insight two-seater and gasoline-electric Accord.


"Right now, the Civic hybrid is pretty much hand-made," Fukui told an industry conference ahead of the Tokyo Motor Show. "We don't have much of a desire to expand volumes under these circumstances," he said, citing the high cost of producing the fuel-sipping vehicles.

Honda, which launched its first hybrid, the Insight, in 1999 -- beating Toyota to the US market -- has admitted to making no money on sales of hybrid cars, which add a pricey electric motor and battery to capture energy while driving.

But Honda is working on lowering production costs, promising a hybrid that would have a premium of up to 200,000 yen (US$1,750) for consumers over a similarly sized gasoline-engine car -- a difference that Fukui said would be low enough to be made up for in lower running costs.

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