Honda Pulls Plug On Accord Hybrid

(this article was found on www.forbes.com)

HONG KONG -
On a race track, the hybrid version of the Honda Accord, with a 253-horsepower, V-6 engine, would definitely beat its rival, Toyota’s hybrid Camry, whose four-cylinder engine can generate 187 horsepower. Nonetheless, Honda forgot the most crucial element of a hybrid is fuel economy, not speed.
Honda Motor (nyse: HMC - news - people ) said Tuesday that it would cease production of the hybrid version of the Accord sedan later this year due to dissatisfactory sales performance.
Since it launched the Accord hybrid in 2004 in North America, the sole market where the model is sold, Honda has only sold 25,000 units. Market leader Toyota (nyse: TM - news - people ) has sold 729,000 units of its Prius hybrid since 1997.
Honda last year also ended production of its Insight hybrid due to poor sales. It will, however, keep on producing a hybrid version of its smaller Civic sedan, which gets better mileage.
The hybrid Accord, priced at $31,090, gets an estimated 28 miles per gallon, while the hybrid Civic, which costs around $22,600, gets about 49 miles per gallon.
Brian Chee, an analyst with the vehicle research firm Autobytel.com, said the Accord's relatively low fuel economy and high pricing compared with other hybrid vehicles made it a tough sell.
"It was a pretty perky performance car that was fun to drive, but it was expensive and it was not exactly what people were looking for as far as a hybrid," Chee said. "It was a clean-burning performance vehicle, but people wanted a hybrid with fuel economy."
Hybrid vehicles run on a gas engine as well as on batteries that are charged by the gas engine or regenerative braking.
Toyota's market-leading Prius model gets an estimated 60 miles per gallon and sells for about $22,000; the hybrid Camry gets about 40 miles per gallon with a price tag of $26,000.
The Prius accounted for 40% of the hybrid market in North America last year. Toyota also offers hybrid versions of Lexus models.
The Civic hybrid has sold more than 153,000 vehicles in Japan, Europe and North America since the model came to market in 2001.
The Associated Press contributed to this report