New Hybrid System for Larger Honda Cars Could Be 3 Years Away, R&D Chief Says
By Scott Doggett February 19, 2010
Honda Motor Co. has taken a big step toward developing a new hybrid system for larger cars, its head of automobile research and development said today, indicating a finished product could be about three years away.
"We've left the research stage and entered the field of development," Tomohiko Kawanabe, chief operating officer of automobile R&D at Japan's No. 2 automaker, told Reuters news service in an interview.
Honda's gasoline-electric cars such as the Insight and the CR-Z (pictured) use a single electric motor, unlike Toyota Motor Corp's two-motor Prius hybrid. Honda's hybrid system has the advantage of being simple and cheaper but trails Toyota's "full" hybrid system in fuel efficiency.
Honda had originally planned to raise fuel efficiency in its bigger cars by using clean diesel technology, but abandoned that strategy in late 2008, instead switching to developing a hybrid system that can be mounted on larger cars such as the Odyssey minivan and Pilot SUV.
Kawanabe declined to specify when the new hybrid system would be ready, but said it would be "roughly the same time frame" as the three years it takes on average on develop a new vehicle.
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Hmm are you incorrectly assuming that Honda just started developing a hybrid system for large cars or did Honda literally say 3 years from today?
According to autonews the Acura TSX 2011 would become available as hybrid and 2 other hybrid models would follow soon after (from undisclosed source though and seems a bit soon).
Honda CEO said last year they were working on a hybrid system for large cars already. So I think within 2 years is more likely.
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