Industry
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HONDA has revealed it is largely walking away from the hybrid technology it pioneered in Australia 15 years ago.
While Honda’s upcoming NSX supercar will continue to wave the high-tech petrol-electric hybrid flag, the carmaker says it is months away from dropping the slow-selling Accord Hybrid from its local line-up via an upcoming facelift, and has no plans to develop a hybrid version of the next-generation Civic due in mid-2016.
He also says the Accord Hybrid will be short-lived, set to be dropped with an imminent model update.
“The numbers are very small on Accord Hybrid and it’s a tough segment,” says Collins. “We never expected to sell huge volumes and we achieved that objective.”
Various luxury brands – including Lexus, BMW, Audi and Mercedes-Benz – are also boosting hybrid offerings.
Honda says it was on a “spiral of negativity” over the past decade and concedes its sales slump was a result of sometimes sub-standard product – itself a result of a cut in research and development from Japan – and poor positioning from higher prices that reduced competitiveness.
