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Honda Not Giving Us Fits, but CR-Z Hybrids Instead

Since it has gotten such lousy reviews on the new Insight, Honda apparently hopes the new CR-Z Hybrid will do better, even as it uses basically the same powertrain. The difference is that this car, like the beloved CRX before it, will appeal to the sporty set. Judging by the many positive comments on the Autoweek story, a lot of them will be tempted. Sign up for email info from Honda here.

The CR-Z Hybrid will go on sale in Japan in February 2010 and should be in the U.S. by the middle of next year. Honda seems ready to commit to an across-the-board hybrid lineup, as Toyota has. Whether that will work in this country is anybody’s guess. The Insight was the top-selling car in Japan this year (until the new Prius took over the crown), and Honda has new, better, two-engine powertrains under development for its larger models.

Let us not forget, however, that Japan has government incentives to go hybrid, as well as higher gas prices. Hybrids are going to be niche vehicles here unless either or both of those conditions change.

Honda also announced that the Fit Hybrid will become available in Japan before the end of the year; there are no plans to bring it here. This news may not send thrills and chills up your spines, CR-Z fans, though the Fit will cost lots less and may well sell better. But, my God, it’s ugly.

If the CR-Z Hybrid were in the $20,000 range, as predicted, would you buy one? What would tempt you?

—jgoods

Tesla Model S Video Introduction

As our regular readers already know, we’re big fans of Tesla Motors and its plan to build long-range plug-in electric cars with performance that matches or exceeds that of most sports cars. So we’re naturally very excited about Tesla’s anticipated Model S sedan, due for release as a 2011 model.

The Model S will extend Tesla’s thinking into a vehicle that can accommodate four adults at a much lower price point than that of Tesla’s currently available Roadster. You can get a better sense of the Model S through the video below, which features Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen and Tesla Chairman, Product Architect, and CEO Elon Musk.

What do you think: Will a relatively affordable, high-performance, pure-electric sedan serve as a game-changer for the auto business, at least here in America? Do you think Tesla’s Model S will be that game-changer?

-Steve Halloran

Volt Contenders

Volt production vehicle--maybe

Auto task force members came to Detroit to drive the Volt mule earlier this week. According to today’s Washington Post, they found it promising but no panacea for GM’s ills. There has been so much hoopla over the car that the whole plug-in hybrid concept, I think, may have been oversold.

Volt is going to be big, heavy, expensive and, according to a Carnegie Mellon study, simply uncompetitive at the $40,000 it’s supposed to cost. GM is betting too much on this car, putting out to pasture a really good competitive small diesel they have been developing and sidetracking other power source developments.

There are quite a few contenders out there, and more are coming. We learned this week that a Norwegian firm has revived its Think City car, an all-electric EV, for possible production and sale in the U.S. The company has years of experience in EVs and was formerly owned by Ford.

The car looks good and, apparently, drives well. The video will give you details.

2010 Honda Insight

And let’s not forget: the Insight is coming. At half the presumed cost of the Volt, you could buy two of these babies and the operating cost per mile would still be less. Insight goes on sale in April. Smaller than the Prius, it will cost less, handle better and look (we think) better.

Another development announced this week may give a future boost to the hybrid concept. MIT scientists have

created a new technique that gives lithium-ion batteries a 100 fold increase in power density. These new batteries when moved from lab to factory could allow charging at 100 times the speed and release of 100 times the power of batteries in use today.

This rapid-charge technique would benefit hybrid vehicles rather more than EVs, according to battery experts. Unless GM can get its costs down, it looks more than ever like an uphill road for the Volt.

Will the Volt drag GM down or prop it up? Let us have your thoughts.

—jgoods

Insight Hopes to Eat Prius’s Lunch; Fusion Waits in Line, Drooling

Last year Toyota sold 158,884 copies of the Prius; it hopes to sell 187,000 in 2010. Honda hopes to build 200,000 of its new Insights, half of which will be available in the U.S. beginning in April. Both companies are setting the table for a power lunch, since the cars are aiming at virtually the same market.

2010 Prius

2010 Insight

However, the Insight is cheaper (at around $20K, some 20% less than Prius), a little sportier, maybe a little better looking, with not quite as good mileage (41 mpg combined vs. the Prius’s 46). Except for its Civic Hybrid powertrain, the Insight is basically a Honda Fit with a new Prius-like body.

And everybody loves it, not least because it’s challenging Toyota’s long dominance in hybrids. But remember, Honda landed on these shores with the first hybrid, the smaller version of the Insight that a lot of people also treasured.

The iconic Prius enters its third generation with more power, better mileage, better acceleration, and a host of features, extras, and improvements over the earlier version. It’s larger and has some new styling touches. The press swarmed all over it at Detroit, reviews have been uniformly excellent, and its selling points of quality and tech leadership remain viable.

2010 Fusion Hybrid

Ford’s new competitor, the Fusion Hybrid, also wants a place at the table. This is a midsize car, not a compact, that gets 41 mpg city/36 highway). That certainly gets it within shooting distance of its rivals and brings another target into view, the Camry Hybrid. The car can do 47 mph on the electric motor only, faster than the competition, giving it better performance and economy in that range. Batteries are 20% more effective than those used in the Escape. And its price will be somewhere in the $27K—Prius’s range.

Wouldn’t it be a gas if Ford, with no bailout money, could take at least a piece of the hybrid pie next year?

Do you think Ford can build a successful hybrid? What will it take?

—jgoods

The idea being pushed by T. Boone Pickens is fairly simple to understand, ...

Are natural gas vehicles the answer?

Have you heard of the Pickens Plan yet?

Keep an eye on a YouTube near you, because it’s exploding there.

The idea being pushed by T. Boone Pickens is fairly simple to understand, and I’ll simplify it even more here: To reduce our use of foreign oil, we take our domestic natural gas production and divert it to powering our automobiles. We use wind energy to make up for the loss of natural gas on our national energy grid.

This plan wouldn’t free us from importing foreign oil, but Pickens argues it would bridge the gap until hydrogen or electric powered cars are a feasible option.

As good as this plan sounds, it seems like there’s a fundamental problem with it. It’s the same problem that’s keeping hydrogen from becoming mainstream: places to fill up. See many natural gas stations on your last road trip?

The logistics and infrastructure required to add natural gas filling stations is only slightly less intimidating than building hydrogen filling stations. At least there are already vehicles, mostly in the public transportation domain, that are running on compressed natural gas. Honda even has a CNG car in the Civic GX, but the car doesn’t deliver any better MPG numbers than a standard Civic LX.

I admire Pickens’ drive to create sustainable, domestic fuel for our cars. But this plan is only somewhat plausible in the coming years, when we need a solution that is feasible today.

And so far, nothing I see beats plain old conservation in the form of lighter, more fuel efficient gas and diesel cars while we wait for the next generation of clean auto fuel, whether that be CNG, hydrogen, electricity or something else entirely.

What do you think: Is Pickens a genius or a nut job?

-tgriffith

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