• Reuters, Wednesday, February 22, 2006 11 AM

A Japanese newspaper is reporting that Honda Motor Co. is developing a low-cost hybrid car that is a version of a current model popular overseas but not yet available in the U.S. The newspaper said the model would cost about $12,000 and could be launched globally in April 2007. The new car would be a version of the Honda Fit, a subcompact that is the carmaker's best-selling model in Japan and is scheduled for a U.S. launch soon. A spokesman denied Honda had made any decision on whether to hybridise the Fit, but added it had the technological wherewithal to mount its hybrid system, which twins an electric motor and a conventional engine to save fuel, on most of its vehicles. Honda also sells hybrid versions of its two best-selling cars, the Accord and Civic, at a premium of about $2,500. Honda, Toyota and Ford Motor Co. are so far the world's sole mass-producers of hybrid passenger cars.

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