Honda deserts hybrids

Honda Australia has dumped hybrids.

With the all-new Civic range eschewing any hybrid or plug-in models and the Accord Hybrid all but gone, the Earth Dreams company has U-turned on the technology – at least for this market.

Indeed, it may soon be the case that the only hybrid offered by Honda Down Under will be the circa-$450K NSX supercar.

According to Honda Australia sales chief Stephen Collins, however, the car maker remains committed globally to the technology.

“Hybrid globally for Honda is still very, very important and still a big part of our brand. In Japan, hybrid represents about 65 per cent of our volume, so it’s a huge part of it and that’s because of government incentives and so on.

“In Australia, it’s important from a leading technology viewpoint but the reality is that the hybrid market is less than one per cent of the total market. And I think if you take [Toyota] Camry out of that, it’s a lot, lot smaller.

Collins categorised the Accord Hybrid as “a major challenge” for the local operation. Civic Hybrid, Insight and the CR-Z hybrid sporty were all sales disasters for the brand Down Under.

Collins descried hybrid as “not core to Honda Australia’s business”.

Honda’s President and CEO Takahiro Hachigo recently stated that by 2030 two-thirds of the company’s car production would be plug-in (including hydrogen fuel cell) or pure EVs. Collins was unclear on the effect of that timeline toward electrification on real-world products.

“The honest answer is I don’t really know. What I do know is the core of our business now and in the foreseeable future, in terms of volume, is petrol engines.

“There’s going to be this transition, of course. [But] the hybrid market is not growing in Australia and it’s showing no short-term signs of growing and I think without government incentives it’s unlikely to grow at any sort of rate,” he said.

“I think consumers also will sometimes talk about wanting really fantastic fuel economy over and above what they can get from a regular, very efficient, petrol or diesel engine, but when you ask them to pay $5000 or $10,000 for the privilege, that’s when it becomes a little harder [to sell],” Collins stated.