Honda's watched from the sidelines for the better part of a decade as the Toyota Prius left its hybrids in the dust to become the must-have ride of the green set. Fed up with being an also-ran, Honda hopes to take down Toyota with an entry-level hybrid that gets 60 mpg and costs about $19,000.
The yet-to-be-named Prius-fighter is Honda's first dedicated hybrid since the funky Insight and one of four gas-electric vehicles the company is rolling out between now and 2012, when it hopes 10 percent of its cars are hybrids.
It will unveil the new hybrid in October at the Paris Auto Show, where people will be forgiven for thinking it looks an awful lot like the car Toyota's already selling.
Honda hasn't shown off the car yet, but spy shots reveal a five-door hatchback that looks remarkably like the Prius. Granted, the car snapped by was camouflaged with lots of plastic and tape and it's said to take some styling cues from the FCX Clarity, but there's no mistaking that profile. It's almost as if Honda's designers had pictures of the enemy taped up in the studio.
Under the skin the new hybrid gets a smaller version of the 1.3-liter Integrated Motor Assist system in the Civic Hybrid, a continuously variable transmission and several chassis components lifted from the Fit. A nickel-metal hydride battery is tucked under the rear floor.
While the next-gen Prius will be bigger and wider than ever, Honda's keeping its new hybrid small with a price to match. It's a bit bigger than the Fit and several thousand dollars cheaper than the Prius.
Moving up the scale, Honda's planning to offer an updated Civic Hybrid in 2010. The sporty CR-Z hybrid coupe will arrive in Europe in 2010 and in the states the year after that, while a gas-electric version of the Fit is slated for 2012.
Photo illustration by Jon Snyder/Wired.com
