Honda Aims to Bring Hybrid Systems To Large Cars As Well

Japan’s second largest automaker has announced Friday through the voice of its Chief Operating Officer of automobile Research & Development that is plans to field new hybrid systems for large cars in the upcoming years, adding to the company’s green vehicle range.

"We've left the research stage and entered the field of development," said Tomohiko Kawanabe, Honda COO R&D in an interview for Reuters. The company already has a noticeable choice of hybrids, including the Insight, Civic or the brand new sport compact CR-Z, but wants to further extend the offer for large segment cars like the Odyssey minivan and the Pilot SUV as well.

It will be interesting to see what Honda will come up with in the near future as all of its current hybrid vehicles trail behind on fuel consumption when compared to rival’s Toyota Prius. The petrol-electric cars from Honda feature a single electric motor (instead of two on the Prius) and a NiMH battery and have the advantage of being cheaper to built and field a simpler engineering architecture.

Honda’s original plan to achieve less fuel consumption for its bigger size vehicles was to prepare them with clean diesel technology. However, in late 2008, the Japanese company decided to abandon that approach and switch to building a new hybrid system developed specifically for large cars.

Tomohiko Kawanabe also hinted that Honda’s new hybrid system would be ready in "roughly the same time frame" as the three-year period necessary for a car manufacturer to develop a new vehicle.