Honda Will Market Hybrid Accord As Semi-Muscle Sedan

[hatrack]

EDIT

When the car hits showrooms in December, Miller says, it will star as the Japanese auto maker's flagship model, priced somewhere less than $40,000 and loaded with luxury features above and beyond the fancy hybrid power train technology. Expect it to cost $3,000 to $5,000 more than a fully dressed Accord EX V-6 now selling for $32,700.

EDIT

By packaging the Accord hybrid with everything from a climate control system to an ear-blasting stereo, this slick piece of engineering has at least a chance of capturing the 700 to 1,000 buyers Honda Canada is aiming for. Keep in mind, though, Honda Canada sold about 26,000 Accords in 2003. It was Canada's best-selling mid-size car.

EDIT

Einosuke Nakahara, the "Large Project" leader or chief engineer of the Accord Hybrid, knows all this and has made it his job to help ensure Honda remains a leader in "green" technology. But Honda's approach is very different from Toyota and Ford's.

Where the latter two are pursuing a "series-parallel" hybrid drive strategy that allows their vehicles to run on either a gasoline engine, battery pack or both, Honda believes its "parallel" design is the most practical approach to hybridization. It weighs less, is less technologically elaborate and requires a smaller battery pack than the series-parallel design, which in essence employs two complete drive train approaches working together and separately, depending on driving conditions. Honda's parallel system is by no means simple, however. In a nutshell, it integrates the hybrid drive assist into the operation of a traditional gasoline engine and five-speed automatic transmission. And the engine completely shuts down when you come to a stop, such as at a traffic light or in the snarled bump-and-grind of rush hour.

[phantom power]

1. "buyers are balking at paying the premium"

I don't see how they can say that. As far as I've heard, every hybrid manufacturer is selling their hybrids as fast as they can make them. In fact, faster, since the waiting-list is growing, not shrinking.

Now, I assume that eventually they will reach some level of saturation, where most people who are willing to pay extra for hybrids will already own one.

But nobody can claim to know what that saturation point is, since we're evidently not even close to that point yet.

[frylock]

2. i've driven a civic hybrid..

and it has zero passing power. You really need to plan well in advance if making a lane change on the freeway.

[kestrel91316]

3. Toyota has the better hybrid technology IMHO.................

theirs run off primarily electric, using gas power only as assist. Honda uses gas primarily, with electric assist. Toyota gets better mileage too IIRC.