Honda Gets Aggressive With Hybrids

Honda CEO Takanobu Ito has decided it will be more aggressive in the hybrid playing field.  Probably because Toyota has dominated in Japan with their new Prius sales (becoming the number one car sold in Japan), Honda has decided they need to be more aggressive in creating hybrid cars.  Ito laid out Honda's strategy in an address in Tokyo.

Honda will introduce new advanced environmental technology vehicles, including a battery-electric vehicle and a new plug-in hybrid vehicle, to the U.S. market in 2012, the company announced today in the mid-year address by Honda Motor Co., Ltd., President and CEO Takanobu Ito, in Tokyo, Japan. Ito also announced application of a lithium-ion battery in the next-generation Civic Hybrid in 2011.

The announcement outlined Honda's commitment to developing advanced environmental technologies for application across all of Honda's global operations. Highlights specifically related to the U.S. market include:

• By the end of 2010 and continuing through 2011, Honda will roll out a battery-electric vehicle demonstration program in the U.S. with participants, including: Stanford University, Google Inc. and the City of Torrance, Calif.
  
• The City of Torrance will receive a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle for evaluation by the end of 2010.
  
• A battery-electric commuter vehicle will be introduced in the U.S. market in 2012.
  
• A new plug-in hybrid system for mid-size to larger vehicles will be introduced in the U.S. market in 2012.
  
• Honda's first hybrid application of a lithium-ion battery will debut in the next- generation Civic Hybrid to be introduced in 2011. The lithium-ion battery was developed through the Honda and GS Yuasa joint-venture company, Blue Energy Co., Ltd.
  

All of this and the Civic will go completely hybrid in Japan. The biggest news is the switch to lithium-ion battery packs in the next generation of hybrids. Any automaker will quickly fall behind if they don't start switching over.