Honda Fit Hybrid

The Emergence of the Economy Hybrid
In an exclusive interview with HybridCars.com, an industry insider has confirmed that Honda will release a hybrid version of the Honda Fit subcompact. At least, that's what they told us. The source, who wished to remain anonymous, said:

If you take the measurement from the wheel hub to the wheel hub of the Fit and the Insight, they are the same to the millimeter. The Fit is going to get the Insight engine. It's already a proven powertrain. It will probably get fuel economy in the low to mid-50s.

We published the news right away, but quickly started to look like liars. A few weeks after the HybridCars.com interview, Honda announced that they would discontinue the Insight in Sept. 2006, and introduce a new hybrid-specific car in 2009. Dick Colliver, executive vice president of Honda's North American operation, said the new hybrid will be an entirely new model and will be built in Japan. Did the line about "entirely new model" mean that the Fit Hybrid was an illusion. Colliver did not comment, one way or the other, on a possible release of a hybrid version of the Honda Fit.

In the same interview, HybridCars.com was told that Honda would also produce a hybrid version of its CR-V mini-SUV. Honda has not publicly confirmed its plans for hybrid versions of the Fit or CR-V, and as time passes, the Fit and CR-V look more illusory.

The Rumor Mill
We weren't alone in our storytelling. Rumors about a hybrid Fit began in February when the Japanese newspaper Nihon Keizai Shimbum reported that the new hybrid was on its way. Honda introduced the conventional Fit subcompact hatchback to the U.S. market in April 2006. The Fit is one of Honda’s hottest selling models in Asia and Europe, where it is sold as the Jazz.

More excitement was stirred when Edmunds's Inside Line suggested that the Honda Fit Hybrid could mean an 80-mpg car selling for under $12,000. Hyperbole and gossip notwithstanding, the prospect of an affordable subcompact hybrid could restore Honda to its hybrid glory days when the company introduced the Honda Insight as the first hybrid on American roads in 1999. Hyundai has delayed their own plans for a subcompact hybrid in the form of an Accent/Rio. Otherwise, a new chapter in the hybrid saga would have begun: the entry-level or economy hybrid. Apparently, the emergence of super-efficient petite hybrids will have to wait until later in the decade.

The promise of subcompact hybrids gives encouragement to environmentalists who have criticized high-performance and SUV hybrids as a misuse of hybrid technology. They say that advances in automotive technology (including hybrid technology) over the past decades have been misplaced on larger and faster vehicles not well suited to increasingly crowded roadways—all with a big environmental cost.
A More Practical Insight

The debate will be settled by the marketplace. If gas prices continue to climb, maybe mainstream consumers will give up a few feet of legroom for maximum fuel economy. The Nihon Keizai Shumbum report said that Honda is targeting fuel economy for the Fit hybrid in the 60-mpg range. As a subcompact, the Fit is cute and small—but has over 90 cubic feet of passenger volume (only slightly less than the midsize Accord) and 21.3 cubic feet of cargo capacity, nearly as much room as a Honda Element. The 60/40-split folding rear seats even allow the Fit to do some minor hauling. In that light, the Honda Fit hybrid could be viewed as a more practical four-door version of the Honda Insight.

It's unlikely that a Fit hybrid would sell anywhere near $12,000. The new conventional Fit subcompact is priced starting between $13,000 and $14,000. Commonly, the hybrid version of vehicle sells for a couple of thousand dollars more than its conventional sibling. Even with the Fit's hybrid premium, its price will beat out the Civic Hybrid by approximately $5,000 and a Prius by $7,000 or more. The gas-only Fit is powered by a 109-horsepower 1.5-liter, four-cylinder VTEC engine. The hybrid version. according to the HybridCars.com interview, will utilize a 1.0-liter engine.