Honda Announces Hybrid Expansion for 2001 Civic

Honda will expand the use of its advanced gasoline-electric hybrid engine system to the Civic line beginning next year in Japan and a year later in the United States said Hiroyuki Yoshino, Honda Motor Co., Ltd. president and chief executive officer.

The new hybrid Civic is the first of a series of "mass market" hybrid vehicles that Honda plans to launch in the coming years.

"Honda will try to focus on cleaning up the fumes emitted by gasoline-powered vehicles and spread the hybrid technology as much as it can," said Yoshino.

Honda's hybrid Civic announcement comes on the heels of the success of the hybrid Insight which by far exceeded initial expectations resulting in Honda increasing the availability of the car in America from 4,000 vehicles to 6,500 in the 2000 calendar year.

Yoshino also said Honda is certain to pursue fuel cell technology as the ultimate solution for the future vehicle powertrain because of its ability to resolve problems such as growing energy consumption, global warming by CO2, and air pollution. Honda is continuing fuel cell research and development with the goal of making a vehicle available in the market by 2003.

In addition, Yoshino announced Honda will completely innovate its 4-cylinder gasoline powered engine series by 2005 to achieve substantial improvements on fuel efficiency and emissions, while generating higher performance.