Honda has decided to release the upcoming Fit Hybrid in late 2010 instead of 2012. Due to the popularity of hybrids and the high sales enthusiasm for the Insight hybrid, Honda has decided to ramp up the release date for the Fit Hybrid by 18 months.
Read More: Honda Fit Hybrid to Release 18 Months Early (2010)
The much-touted “green” President, Obama, has OK’d a slash in the Department of Energy’s research funding budget for 2010. In the typical short-sightedness of government types, DoE Secretary Chu said that because “these vehicles are 10 to 20 years away,” they aren’t as imperative as battery electric technology.
Read More: Hydrogen Fuel Cell Funding Slashed From New DOE/Obama Budget
Chrysler officially declared bankruptcy last week amongst cries from various political parties and pundits over the whys and hows of the deal. Despite billions in government bailouts and massive cutbacks by the company–even the restructuring of agreements with United Auto Workers and several of Chrysler’s debtors–the company could not avoid the inevitable.
Read More: Chrysler, Fiat, Bankruptcy and Renewal: Can Fiat Win U.S. Over?
Unimpressed with the marketing blitz of Honda and Toyota’s hypermiling challenges, Ford set out to hold one of its own. The 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid issued a 1,000 mile challenge. While I’m a big fan of the Insight and the great mileage it showed in real-world demonstrations, their hypermiling challenge was as rigged as the Toyota one was. Ford, on the other hand, seems to have been serious about making it realistic.
Read More: Fusion Hybrid Gets 81.5mpg in Hypermiling Challenge
As the hybrid war between Honda and Toyota commences, Honda has taken it up a notch by offering a sporty hybrid concept, the CRZ. Based on current CRZ design, the new 2011 version will have better body styling for minimizing drag as well as a higher-horsepower engine than the Insight.
Read More: 2011 Honda CRZ Hybrid Sports Car
Recognizing Honda’s Insight as a real challenge to the Prius’ reign on the hybrid market, Toyota has announced that they’re cutting the base price of the 2010 Prius down to $21,000 (about $1,200 higher than the Insight).
Read More: Toyota to Slash Prius Price to Compete With Honda
Driving smarter can save fuel. Huge amounts of fuel, even for non-hybrids and gas guzzling SUVs. Most of the newer vehicles, especially hybrids, are now featuring “eco-driving” displays or prompts integrated into the dashboard of the car. Ford, Honda, Toyota, and many others have them. The Chevy Volt is expected to feature one and even electrics like the Ford Transit will have it.
Read More: Eco-Nagging: The New Eco-Driving Systems Coming to a Car Dash Near You
The Honda FCX Clarity hydrogen fuel-cell car won this year’s World Car of the Year Award. The panel of jurors from around the world’s automotive magazines gave the coveted award to the Clarity after considering all three finalists on merits of environmental impact, innovation, and style.
Read More: NY Auto Show: Honda FCX Clarity Wins World Green Car of the Year
The new Honda Insight hybrid became available in showrooms in the U.S. on Friday and Honda says that the handful available nationally now will become thousands in April.
We’ve talked about the Insight here before and it is currently the only real competition for Toyota’s Prius–and good competition at that. Despite sluggish car sales in America, the Insight is expected to do well–as it has in Japan so far–because of it’s low price tag (about $20,000USD) and high efficiency performance (well over 60mpg in real-world testing).
Read More: Honda Insight Hybrid On Sale Now
The release of the surprise Honda Insight hybrid and it’s sub-$20k price tag took most of us with a left hook. In order to compete (and get stockpiles off the lot), Toyota almost immediately reacted by lowering the price of the 2009 Prius to compete.
With the Insight coming to America in just a few months, Toyota is hitting the bricks hard to push the new 2010 Prius model to keep from losing market share. They’ve also got a hopeful ace up their sleeve: the Yaris hybrid.
Read More: Toyota Yaris Hybrid to Compete With Honda Insight
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