Now that there three other producers of NIMH batteries for hybrid vehicles(Sanoh, Toshiba, Sanyo) I'm sure it is only a matter of time before Honda switches from it's current source. I understand that they are not happy with essentially buying batteries from Toyota.
Honda Hybrid Car Orders Outpace 300-Unit Target in First Month
Tokyo, Dec. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Honda Motor Co., Japan's third- largest automaker, said orders for its new gasoline-electric hybrid car were more than twice its target in November.
Honda said it received orders for 700 Insight subcompacts, which went on sale in Japan Nov. 1, the model's first month of availability. Honda's original monthly target for the high mileage, low-polluting hybrid was 300 units.
``This is really a good start,' said Honda spokeswoman Noriko Okamoto. ``The demand probably reflects consumer interest in good mileage.'
The two-seater, with a suggested retail price of 2.1 million yen ($20,518), integrates a 1,000cc, 3-cylinder gasoline engine with an advanced nickel metal-hydride battery power system.
The car offers the best fuel efficiency of any mass-produced gasoline-powered vehicle, the company said. Road tests conducted by Honda suggest the futuristic-looking, 820kg (1,804 pounds) Insight can go about 30 kilometers on a liter of gasoline (70 miles a gallon), according to company data and estimates by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The Tokyo-based company will launch the Insight in the U.S. by the end of this month, making it the first gasoline-electric hybrid available in the world's largest auto market, Okamoto said. European sales are to start in early 2000, though Honda said it hasn't decided when it will go on sale in Asia.
Toyota Motor Co.'s Prius, the first mass-production hybrid vehicle, introduced in Japan in 1997, goes 27 kilometer on a liter of gasoline, Okamoto said. Toyota has said it plans to begin selling the Prius in the U.S. next year.
Japan's automakers are rushing to release cars that comply with California's Ultra-Low Emissions Vehicle (ULEV) standard.
Honda shares fell 140 yen, or 3.13 percent, to 4330
Dec/03/1999 3:16
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