The Crank: Honda ditches diesels for hybrids

By John LeBlanc So much for going its own way. A report has Japan’s Honda canceling plans to build a new minicar and diesel engine plant north of Tokyo. Apparently, the dreaded new fuel economy and tailpipe emissions regs, that will peak in 2016, have scared the Honda folks enough to go over to the Dark Side: hybrids. Now as you may know, Honda’s never been too keen on this whole gasoline-electric fad. Sure. It brought out the original Insight over a decade ago. But it wasn’t a full hybrid (one that can run on battery juice alone.) While in the ensuing years, its “mild hybrid” system (found in Civics and today’s Insight and CR-Z) has proven Honda never really felt been fully on board with hyrbrids the way rival Toyota. Its cars more of a sop to the market as if to say, Yeah, we can do a hybrid too, even if we think they’re kind of silly. Really, if Honda had its way, we’d all be driving around in hydrogen fuel-cell cars, like its FCX Clarity. But with no investment in infrastructure from cash-strapped government, that’s not going to happen anytime soon. And now that Honda’s given up on making diesels (as confirmed by the canned 2.2-litre i-DTEC clean-diesel Acura TSX we were supposed to driving, like now, pictured above in 2008) Honda will more-than-likely announce a new full hybrid system capable of going toe-to-toe with Toyota’s Synergy Drive for its mid-size cars, like the Accord, and Acura TL, among others. With VW/Audi's success with derv drinkers, do you think Honda is making a mistake ditching diesels? Can it really take on Toyota in the hybrid market starting so late? [Source: Reuters]

Comments