New Honda Chief Says Everyone is Going to Go the Way of the Hybrids

Talking about the upcoming CR-Z and Fit Hybrid, new Honda Chief Executive Takanobu Ito said "Bringing hybrids quickly to customers will be a major focus of our activities." (Source:Reuters)

He also noted the engineers that used to work on the Formula One team are now working on hybrid development. Honda is now working on a new hybrid system with two electric motors for medium to large sized vehicles.

Given that Japan outsold the US for hybrid car sales in June, it's not surprising to see the two main competitors from Japan (Honda and Toyota) are focusing more and more on hybrid development and sales.

The CR-Z hybrid sports car will be introduced in February, 2010, while the Fit hybrid isn't due until the end of 2010. I believe both dates indicate their introduction to Japan, with a rollout in the US to follow after.  The EU rollout date is still tenuous for the CR-Z as 'towards the end of the year.'

More interesting to me, is how Ito is attributing the slow start of the Insight in the US (they are under their own sales goal so far) to a prioritization set by Honda, not by demand. Apparently, Honda is filling orders in Japan first, where the company can make a bigger profit due to the yen's strength against the dollar.