TOKYO - Honda will discontinue the hybrid version of its Accord sedans, the company said Tuesday, ceding Toyota?s dominance of the market with its Prius hybrid.
Honda Motor Co., Japan?s No. 2 automaker, will continue to make gas-and-electric models of its Civic sedan, but stop offering the hybrid Accord with the new model expected to go on sale later this year, company spokesman Yoshiyuki Kuroda said in Tokyo.
The Accord hybrid, which is sold only in North America, was a dud, selling just 25,000 since going on sale in 2004, and just 6,100 last year.
Story continues below ↓ Kuroda said the decision underlines how hybrids tend to be more popular with smaller models because mileage improvements tend to be more pronounced.
A hybrid switches between a gas engine and electric motor to deliver better mileage and reduce greenhouse emissions.
Toyota Motor Corp.?s Prius hybrid is the market leader, with 729,800 units sold since December 1997. Toyota offers several other hybrid models, including the hybrid Camry and hybrid Lexus models.
?Americans didn?t accept the Accord hybrid,? Kuroda said.
The Accord hybrid?s U.S. sales totaled just 439 last month, while Toyota sold 24,000 Prius cars during the same period.
Last year, Honda said it will stop making the slow-selling Honda Insight hybrid, but Honda is promising a new U.S. hybrid competitor in 2009.
Tokyo-based Honda continues to sell the hybrid Civic, which has sold more than 153,000 since going on sale in 2001 in Japan, Europe and North America. It said it remained committed to developing more hybrids.
Hybrid sales in North America have risen with soaring gas prices. The Prius made up more than 40 percent of hybrid sales in the U.S. last year.
Hybrids like the Prius and Civic deliver as much as 50 miles per gallon or more, depending on driving conditions, but the hybrid Accord delivered fewer miles to the gallon.
2007 slate blue 5spd w/ adventure package. Still pretty much stock ... dammit
Yuck.
Yuck.
Did you mean to say you see (15) 1 Horsepower Priuses a day in your little town.
2006 H2 w/6 inch lift.
2001 F-350 w/10 inch lift
2013 Jeep Wrangler w/6 inch lift
2013 Victory Cross Country
2006 Suzuki Hayabusa
Thanks for catching my typo!
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19030555/
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19030555/
That's because it's a steaming pile-o-sheeot. It's pretty bad when you're a foreign car maker and Consumer Reports says your car sucks! I've read reviews of those rolling turds and tree hugger or no tree hugger, they're junk.
My mother-in-law just bought a Pious. I could puke. She drives about 50 miles a WEEK and says she needs to save gas. Yes, she lives in a college town. Makes me want to buy an H2 just to offset it. Has anyone started an FUPIOUS page?
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