HONG KONG - Honda Motor, Japan's second-largest automaker, is a longtime also-ran against its largest rival, Toyota Motor, in the race to develop hybrid cars. Not for much longer, apparently. Stubbornly high fuel prices, combined with rising concern worldwide over pollution and global warming woes worldwide and a growing appetite for hybrid cars in the United States, are catalyzing initiatives by carmakers to create fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly vehicles. On Wednesday, Honda's President Takeo Fukui, in delivering the company’s midterm speech, threw down the gauntlet to Toyota (nyse: TM - news - people ), seeking to mount a serious challenge in the hybrid cars segment. The weapon Fukui chose was a lineup of four models, including Honda's sole current hybrid in production, the Civic Hybrid; a new hybrid-only model yet to be named, which will be a five-door, five-passenger compact, with an exterior design similar to its new fuel cell vehicle concept, the FCX Clarity; a hybrid sports car version of its CR-Z line; and a new hybrid model for its Fit compact cars, sold as the Jazz in Europe. Sketches of Honda's new hybrid ideas first appeared as early as October of last year. (See: "Honda To Hit Accelerator On Hybrid Production") Consumers will not need to wait long. Fukui said the new five-passenger hybrid compact will go on sale in Japan, North America and Europe in early 2009, with expected annual global sales of 200,000 units. All told, Honda (nyse: HMC - news - people ) is aiming to achieve annual sales for all four models of about half of a million units some time beyond 2010. In short, Fukui concluded, the new hybrid strategy is to "achieve full-scale market penetration." The mass market approach promises to yield more affordable prices for its hybrid cars, narrowing the price premium to as little as 200,000 yen ($1,741.31), down from 500,000 yen ($4,834.42) now, Fukui remarked. On an earlier occasion, he had mentioned that the hybrid-only model would be smaller than the Civic Hybrid but would also cost about one-third less. By comparison, Toyota's top-selling hybrid, the Prius, just crossed the 1 million mark for worldwide sales last week. Honda's hybrid initiative is one of the three pillars of its three-year business plan that began April 1, which also includes expansion in the motorcycle business and innovations in manufacturing technology in its home base of Japan.
Friday, August 1, 2008
Honda Lays Out Hybrid Fleet To Challenge Prius
The Tata Nano: World's Cheapest (Electric) Car?
So it looks like the world's cheapest car (the Tata Nano) could soon be the world's cheapest electric car as well.
The price of the Nano is just above $2,500 and Tata's chairman Ratan Tata says he expects demand to exceed supply. Tata's plant in the city of Singur in the state of West Bengal will eventually have the capacity to make 350,000 Nanos a year.
Tata Motors plans to make a second generation of its four-passenger Nano with a diesel engine. But initially, it will have a gasoline engine capable of 50 miles to the gallon.
But the interesting news out of Mr. Tata's talk to shareholders at the annual general meeting last week was that the company is competing for an Eco car in Thailand and looking at other ways to make even more fuel-efficient versions of the Nano.
Tata is working with a French firm in developing an electric Nano. The electric car will use compressed air. Tata Motors also announced earlier this year it is in talks with Chrysler on developing electric vehicles.
According to the Economic Times of India, a diesel engine for the Nano is being developed by a German company and will use a fuel injection system. Sources told the newspaper that the 800 cc, turbo charged diesel engine will be a two-cylinder and capable of at least 30 per cent more mileage compared to 800 cc gasoline powered cars.
It's hoped that the cheap vehicle willenable more people in developing countries to be able to afford their own car. But at the same time, there are concerns about the congestion and pollution caused by more cars on the road. In India, there are seven motorcycles sold for every car, according to the World Bank.
An all-electric or efficient diesel option would certainly decrease from those concerns. However, with India being coal powered, and lagging on emissions standards, it's not clear how much greener these cars really will be.
Video: Tesla Roadster's touch-screen interface
You may have heard about the the 6,831 lithium ion batteries that power the all-electric Tesla Roadster. But what about the user interface from the driver's seat?
It turns out that the Roadster has a small touch screen to control battery charging. It provides people with the temperatures of different subsystems, and it gives a read of how the batteries' charge translates into range and performance.
It also lets people schedule the charging for late at night, when rates can be lower because demand on the power grid is lower--a very handy feature.
CNET News sister publication Crave U.K. talked to a Tesla representative at the British International Motor show last week for a demo. The Roadster, which just started shipping in the United States, is scheduled to come to the United Kingdom in May 2009.
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