Honda May Cut Accord Hybrid Production

Honda May Cut Accord Hybrid Production

At the New York Auto Show, the Executive Vice President of Honda, Dick Colliver, said that Honda may cut production of its Accord hybrid because sales have been slow. Meanwhile, the Honda Insight hybrid saw sales jump 15%, and Honda expects to sell 25,000 Civic hybrids, 8% of its total Civic volume (and Toyota should sell over 100,000 hybrids). "The problem with the Accord is that the hybrid system is paired with a V6 engine, compared to the smaller 4-cylinder engine in the Civic, and consumers aren’t convinced it will offer them any fuel savings." Could this mean that the next Accord hybrid will have a smaller 4-cylinder engine, like the Toyota Camry hybrid, and the upcoming Nissan Altima and Saturn Aura hybrids? We certainly hope so. If Honda really wants to make "performance" hybrids, it should consider branding them as Acura, like Toyota does with its Lexus hybrids. ::Honda may cut hybrid production due to soft sales, via ::Autoblog. See also: ::2006 Honda Accord Hybrid: Still a Mixed Bag.