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Honda UK has dropped ALL hybrids from its range!

Discussion in 'Honda/Acura Hybrids and EVs' started by GrumpyCabbie, Aug 29, 2015.

  1. GrumpyCabbie

    GrumpyCabbie Senior Member

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    Honda the company that introduced the first hybrid to the international market with the original Insight, and went on to have a variety of hybrid options, has now pulled the last hybrid from their UK lineup.

    We didn't get an Accord hybrid because our model was different to the US, but we got the Civic Hybrid (from about 2003 onwards), the original Insight, the new Insight (from 2009), the CR-Z sport hybrid and finally the Jazz Hybrid (Fit or Viz in other markets).

    They've dropped them all, the last being the Jazz hybrid which has been dropped from the new Jazz model recently released. I notice the Accord has been dropped too, though it was never hybrid.

    Cars – Honda

    So that's it. Honda who started it all have given up on them. Why? Very curious decision condidering other companies are moving towards electrics, plug in's, and expanding traditional hybrid range. The Outlander PHEV can't sell enough, so there's obviously a demand.

    It's not just Honda though as Toyota have made a strange decision by going for the Mirai and not offering any BEV.
     
  2. orenji

    orenji Senior Member

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    Honda is going the same direction as Toyota, they see the future of Hydrogen.
     
  3. GrumpyCabbie

    GrumpyCabbie Senior Member

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    That's what I feared.
     
  4. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    no great loss. what is it that makes it so unprofitable to sell hybrids there, government policy?
     
  5. hill

    hill High Fiber Member

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    Honda got burned pretty good here in the U.S. courts. They over programmed the traction packs to do more than they should, ultimately causing loss of capacity before their time. That dropped mileage a good amount below epa. Honda had to pay up to the hybrid owners for the mpg loss / difference. That seemingly has soured them with hybrids. Still, I wouldn't count them out yet. Being optimistic, but they may be back.
    .
     
  6. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    they should come out with a high powered accord hybrid, now that would sell.(y)
     
  7. GrumpyCabbie

    GrumpyCabbie Senior Member

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    No. I think they just have an anti-hybrid person up top. The Insight flopped after the gen3 Prius came out and then Honda overpriced the Insight so sales really slowed. I think in the end it was more than a Prius!?! The CR-v Sport hybrid was a nice looking car but it was small inside (we got 4 seats) and was under powered. It fell shy of the magic 100g/km economy ratings so was stung with higher tax. All the Toyota hybrids, other than about two of the Prius+ fall below this figure. The Jazz hybrid was quite expensive again and the Toyota Yaris hybrid was a better car with a base model that was cheaper than the Jazz hybrid. I do see quite a few Jazz hybrids about (Fit/Viz), though they made them an awful colour, so perhaps that restricted sales?

    upload_2015-8-30_10-12-23.jpeg

    My gut feeling is that someone at the top of Honda UK wasn't keen on HQ in Japan insisting they sold hybrids so just made them unwanted - too expensive or strange colours. Seen that with Vauxhall and their still born Ampera (Volt). Sales were shocking, but so was the cost to buy.

    There is a demand for hybrids here as diesel finally has a bad rap for being a poison. There are positive tax benefits to owning a hybrid now the much publicised sales of the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV show. A manufacturer on a knife edge with falling sales and an unloved lineup suddenly have a vehicle where they can't sell enough. They're everywhere. I see loads in my town. The Outlander PHEV does what a lot of people want - it's cheap to tax, cheap on petrol (mostly), it can tow, it's a small SUV, it's 4x4, it can be plugged in for upto 30 miles of electric and can use the free electric charge points on the motorway using the fast chademo socket.

    Honda have so missed all this. They sold less than 10k Insights in the UK - ever. Including the first generation!
    HONDA INSIGHT (model family) - How Many Left?

    The Outlander has sold more than 10k in the first three months of 2015 which is good for a hybrid vehicle. By contrast Toyota sold less than 3k Prius in all of 2014. The best Prius year was 2010 where they sold 10,384 of them, in 12 months compared to 3 months with the Outlander PHEV. Give people what they want at a price they want and they will buy.

    Mitsubishi Outlander takes electric car sales crown for first time - 29 Jun 2015 - News from BusinessGreen
    Mitsubishi Outlander is top UK plug-in as electric car sales surge - Telegraph
     
  8. Trollbait

    Trollbait It's a D&D thing

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    With Japan and North America being their biggest markets, I suspect Honda is taking the FCEV route out of it being the easiest way for them to meet CARB ZEV requirements.
     
  9. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    ya, but gc says toyota is a fail as well.
     
  10. GrumpyCabbie

    GrumpyCabbie Senior Member

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    No I'm not. They're actually selling hybrids quite nicely and they make up 1 in 3 sales, though overall Toyota share of the market is falling. Lexus have a hybrid in virtually every model of their range.

    Other companies are now (eventually) releasing hybrids and they're selling too. So it's strange Honda suddenly drop all theirs. Surely they didn't release hybrids on the World market purely to meet CARB requirements? In the US market sure, but the World market? If I recall, they still sell hybrids in the US and elsewhere in the World, so why not here?
     
  11. Stevevee

    Stevevee Active Member

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    Honda's pulling the Accord Hybrid for a year, and bringing the production back to Japan. So no 2016 Accord Hybrid, and the plug-in is gone. Good time to leave a wide gap in their lineup, as hybrid sales are down everywhere.
     
  12. GrumpyCabbie

    GrumpyCabbie Senior Member

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  13. Trollbait

    Trollbait It's a D&D thing

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    Selling the hybrids elsewhere helped with covering costs for the entire model.

    I expect the lack of hybrids is a temporary thing for the UK. The models you lost are all old models. The Insight2 is going away, and is already cancelled in some markets. In hindsight, Honda would have been better skipping it and just exporting the Fit/Jazz hybrid to more places.

    The CR-Z has also been cancelled in some places. The US will be losing the hybrid soon, and getting a non-hybrid version. Japan may be the only market getting it as hybrid in the future.

    The Civic has Honda's old system, IMA, still. If you just got the new Jazz, then then your hybrid one also had IMA. The new system in the Japanese Jazz is close to the Prius c for fuel economy there. So Honda could be bringing models with the new system to the UK in the future.
    The Fit EV was a CARB compliance car. Honda did offer it in a few more states to get data over different climates, but it was lease only. I think Honda may have continued with it if CARB hadn't favored FCEV more with ZEV credits.

    Honda already had the Clarity out for a lease test program, and their home country is pushing FCEV. Now they can put less than half as many FCEVs on the road in California than Fit EVs in order to meet their ZEV requirement.

    Plus there is some jealousy and anger with Toyota there. Since the company's founding, Honda has always paid attention to fuel economy to some degree; they don't make an engine larger than a V6, and resisted even offering that. Along comes the Prius, and everybody seems Toyota as the green company. Even though Toyota sells plenty of V8 FSP trucks and SUVs. And now the Mirai is getting headlines.
     
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  14. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    check your thread, "has toyota fallen out of love with the prius".
     
  15. GrumpyCabbie

    GrumpyCabbie Senior Member

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    The Prius and hybrids are two different things.

    They have indeed fallen out of love with the Prius for the reasons given. I will be very surprised if we get the gen4 here, or at least a traditional hybrid and plug in version of it. I think they may just offer the plug in to try and compete wiht the Outlander PHEV.
     
  16. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    Never mind dropping the hybrids but holy cow the UK Honda range is small! (Besides, doesn't the Jazz sell well?)

    Jazz, Civic (in various forms), HR-V and CR-V. Your biggest vehicle is the CR-V? I understand the size of the road and towns difference but wow.

    We really are spoiled for choice here :oops:.
     
  17. GrumpyCabbie

    GrumpyCabbie Senior Member

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    Agree. The range has just got smaller and smaller. Gone is the Accord which has been in the lineup for decades. Wouldn't want cars any bigger over here as parking can be an issue.

    They've either got a load of models waiting in the wings, or it's a race to the bottom now the rot has set in.

    The Jazz EV would sell IF sold and marketed correctly.
     
  18. usbseawolf2000

    usbseawolf2000 HSD PhD

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    Honda pulled out IMA hybrids. I hope Accord hybrid is released soon there. Their FCV is going to be a hybrid too.
     
  19. Trollbait

    Trollbait It's a D&D thing

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    Where has Honda called their FCEV(which the terminology they use on the car's site) a hybrid?
     
  20. usbseawolf2000

    usbseawolf2000 HSD PhD

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    Clarity has a fuel cell stack and li-ion battery pack. That makes it a hybrid.
     
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