Honda Motor Co. said it will launch a new gasoline-electric hybrid car early next year in Japan, North America and Europe, underlining its emphasis on hybrids as the core of its eco-friendly vehicle business.
Honda, Japan's second-largest automaker by sales, expects annual sales of the new hybrid model to reach 200,000 worldwide during the next decade. Combined with the hybrid versions of its Fit, Civic and CR-Z cars, Honda expects its global hybrid car sales to reach 500,000 a year, President Takeo Fukui told reporters.
"As of now, I see hybrid as the most realistic and most effective" among "green" vehicle technologies, Fukui said as he unveiled the project as part of Honda's three-year strategy through business 2010.