While confirming that at least two new Honda hybrid models will be coming to Canada, the Fit hybrid that was also confirmed as part of the company's hybrid offensive over the next three years is not currently part of the product plan, Honda Canada officials said this past weekend.
Honda will introduce an all-new hybrid-only hatchback model in early 2009 to compete with Toyota's Prius, Honda president Takeo Fukui said in Tokyo last week. The car will look much like the FCX Clarity concept, he said.
Honda has ambitious plans to make it the lowest-priced hybrid on the market, while selling 100,000 a year in North America with another 100,000 earmarked for Europe and Japan combined, two markets that have been cooler to the hybrid concept, despite higher fuel prices.
Following the Prius-fighter will be a small hybrid based on the CR-Z concept, a modern renaissance for the dearly departed CRX two-seat Civic-based sportster.
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This upcoming CR-Z is also planned as a hybrid-only model, a daring move for a company whose unique two-seat Insight hybrid crashed and burned in the marketplace, despite offering the best fuel economy of any gas-powered automotive offering while it was on sale from late 1999 to 2006.
On top of the Civic Hybrid, the other hybrid mentioned by Fukui was a planned hybrid version of the subcompact Fit, called the Jazz in Europe, although he didn't confirm which of these three main markets would receive the car.
"The Fit Hybrid is not coming to North America, at this time," said Jerry Chenkin, executive vice-president for Honda Canada, arguing that the fuel economy improvement over the thrifty 1.5-litre gas engine was not yet sufficient to make it commercially viable.
That "at this time" qualifier is the key here, since Honda is aiming for 500,000 hybrid sales globally, and even with 200,000 of those the as-yet unnamed and unseen Prius rival, it will still need to boost its hybrid sales greatly to meet those goals within three years.
Keeping the Fit Hybrid out of the largest hybrid market in the world will not help that total, and contacts within Honda all suggest that a later announcement could be coming about the Fit Hybrid.
The key to making that happen will likely be Honda's plan to keep the price premium for a hybrid version to about $2,000, or less. Fukui said that future hybrid models should be kept to within 200,000 yen.
"The 200,000 yen difference is a must," Fukui told Associated Press news service; the Accord V-6 hybrid was discontinued last year due to what analysts generally acknowledged as a combination of a high price and a performance-oriented rather than fuel-economy-minded powertrain.
Cities see battles
over drive-thrus
The battle between merchants with drive-thrus and environmentalists wanting to curb or eliminate these lanes was on full display in London, Ont., this week, where city council was one of many across the country that have debated whether to limit or even ban new drive-thru restaurants.
Arguing against strict new rules was a team that consisted of fast food and coffee purveyors as well as Ontario's largest restaurant association; a lawyer and an engineering consultant representing them argued that a study commissioned by Tim Hortons showed that each of three drive-thru locations produced less emissions and pollution than one parking-only store.
The study, authored by Mike Lepage of RWDI, a Guelph, Ont.-based consulting firm, concluded that emissions from vehicles shut off for a few minutes were more harmful than ones from idling cars in the drive-through lanes.
Similar debates have occurred in city planning meetings in Edmonton, Vancouver, Toronto and Ottawa, following tighter restrictions implemented by the cities of Mississauga, Hamilton and Winnipeg, although no city has yet mandated a ban of the lucrative and convenient sales generator, citing a serious cut in service to customers who are elderly, disabled or with young children.
There's also the little issue of hybrid sales coming on strong, which emit nothing when slowly coasting along in drive-thrus, as well as start-stop technology that may be coming to conventionally powered cars as well.
Nissan trading pickups
for commercial trucks
Nissan's announcement earlier this month that it would start selling a version of Chrysler's Dodge Ram pickup by 2011 meant that it will no longer need to produce its own Titan pickup truck at its Canton, Miss., plant by 2010, when production will be turned over to producing light-duty commercial vehicles.
Carlos Ghosn, CEO of Nissan, said earlier this month that the LCV business will be a prime driver in the company's GT 2012 business plan. The plan is to produce vehicles in Canton that will be sold globally, doubling Nissan's LCV revenues in the next five years, and maintaining employment at the plant once the Titan production ceases in 2010, and most likely the Armada and Infiniti QX56 that share the same platform along with it.
Subaru website
rated the best
An annual detailed study of Canadian auto manufacturer websites has found Subaru Canada's to be the best, followed by a tie between Kia's and Volvo's sites, according to J.D. Power.
The market research firm said last week that the average overall satisfaction with these sites declined for the second year in a row. But companies in this year's studies tended to improve scores after redesigning their site, such as Subaru, in contrast with past studies where redesigns using flashy video/graphics actually decreased satisfaction scores, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2008 Canadian Manufacturer Web Site Evaluation Study.
The study was based on evaluations provided by 3,639 new-vehicle shoppers who indicated they would be in the market for a new vehicle within the next 12 months.
Shoppers over 50 were found most likely to be dissatisfied with websites, particularly in regard to appearance or navigation ease, thus alienating some of the most affluent and largest group of potential buyers, said Adrian Chung, manager of automotive syndicated research at J.D. Power and Associates.
"Most features on manufacturer Web sites are aimed at shoppers younger than 30 years old, who are most comfortable shopping online but represent only 12 per cent of new-vehicle purchases," said Chung.
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