Honda Fit Hybrid

Description:

At times it takes distantly related things to trigger off events that have been kept on the backburner for ages. It is due to the hike in fuel prices in 2008 that Takeo Fukui, the President and chief executive officer of Honda to start planning about a hybrid vehicle. In the year 2006, it was reported that Honda was thinking about manufacturing a hybrid version of its Fit. This information was based on news reports from an unidentified source but was denied by the officials of Honda. The president of Honda had at that moment vehemently denied such reports and had said in December 2006 that their then car, the Jazz, had a fuel engine that was more than capable of delivering the correct mileage.

All this has changed now and it now looks sensible to launch a Fit hybrid are the current views of Fukui. It is commonly known that more and more car manufacturers are bringing out hybrid versions of their vehicles in order to counter the effect of spiraling fuel prices and also to cope with the CO2 emissions of the standard fuel engine vehicles. This too must have been at the back of Fukui’s mind when he reversed his decision. To stay in the competition, Honda had no other alternative rather than bringing out hybrid vehicles. It was thought, way back in 2006, that Honda would make use of its Insight drivetrain.

The reason behind this is that the wheel-hub to wheel-hub dimensions of the Insight and the Fit are more or less identical. It was also thought to convert the Fit to a practical 4 door version of the Insight. Though the Insight, which was discontinued in the year 2006, had good fuel efficiency, in the range of 60’s, the drawback was that it could seat just 2 persons. Replacing it by the near identical Insight seemed to be a better plan. The Fit is available nowadays in models that have fuel displacements between 1.3 liters and 1.5 liters. It is reported that Honda is developing a 1 liter engine for the hybrid version of Fit.

There are reports doing the rounds that the hybrid version of Fit would be priced at about $12,000 but this news seems to be exaggerated. However, it is safe to assume that even with a premium of a few thousand dollar, the Fit Hybrid would still be cheaper than the Honda Civic Hybrid and the Toyota Plus. Add to this the fact that the Fit Hybrid is going to provide far better mileage than all other hybrids and one has a winner on their hands. Honda is also planning to introduce a low cost hybrid specific model in the 2009s, but do not expect the Fit before 2010. With the release of the Fit Hybrid, Honda will raise the stakes higher as far as hybrids are concerned and provide users with a car boasting better fuel efficiency for a lower cost.