Honda CRZ hybrid coming early next year

Can a sporty hybrid sell?

Honda Executive Vice President Koichi Kondo has confirmed that the Honda CR-Z hybrid will go on sale early next year and that the new hybrid will cost more than $20,000. Sometime thereafter, according to Kondo, the Honda Fit hybrid will follow.

Finally, in the next year or so, Honda believes it will be selling 500,000 hybrid vehicles per year.

20 percent hybrid by 2020?

Ford better get ready to increase its hybrid production

In just a few years, shoppers of Honda hybrid cars will face a tough decision.

Should they buy the cheapest and smallest Honda hybrid, the Fit or the larger Honda Insight? Or, for those not interested in hatchbacks and desiring a little more passenger space, the Civic hybrid might be better . Then again, maybe some Honda hybrid consumers won't care about size, but instead prefer something sporty like the CR-Z sports hybrid.

So, why is Honda going hybrid crazy? Well, perhaps they've seen JP Morgan's latest hybrid prediction. By 2020, according to JP, hybrid sales in the US will reach 19.4 percent of the new car market.

Shoot. If gas prices pull another 2008 in the next few years, I'd say that JP is underestimating the hybrid market. In fact, the way that Honda is ramping up its hybrid efforts, I wouldn't be surprised if Honda was hybrid-only by 2020.

Now, US automakers, that's a whole other story.

Toyota developing sporty hybrid to challenge CR-Z

Honda's upcoming CR-Z hybrid

Not only is Toyota going to develop a compact hybrid - smaller than the current Prius - that will be cheaper than the Honda Insight, but the hybrid king will also develop a sporty hybrid, based off the MR2, to challenge the Honda CR-Z hybrid according to recent reports.

Love seeing this emerging hybrid battle heat up between Honda and Toyota, but I'd sure love to see a US automaker join the war.

Honda CR-Z hybrid will become reality

Coming in 2009?

Honda has announced that its lightweight hybrid sports car, the CR-Z, is going into production.

The concept CR-Z hybrid is coupled with Honda's current hybrid technology, and is now set to launch when Honda begins selling its new family hybrid - a hybrid only vehicle - in 2009.

While Honda has stated that the new hybrid coupe concept utilizes the same hybrid powertrain found in the Civic hybrid, it isn't clear whether Honda's hybrid powertrain will be updated for the launch of these new hybrid cars. My hunch, however, is that an upgrade is forthcoming.

Since Honda wants to start selling at least a quarter million hybrid vehicles by 2009, a few changes to Honda's hybrid technology seem necessary.

Honda CR-Z Hybrid on display in Tokyo

No change in hybrid technology?

"The CR-Z is a next-generation lightweight sports car equipped with Honda’s original gas-electric hybrid system which achieves both clean performance and a high level of torque," notes a Honda website.

Keywords in that sentence, "lightweight" and "original".

Certainly, decreasing the weight of a vehicle can have a significant impact on fuel economy, however, it is a bit disappointing to hear that this next generation hybrid might use Honda's "original gas-electric hybrid system".

Once again, it seems Honda is still very cautious regarding hybrid cars.

Click her for more on the CR-Z from Honda.