Honda announces an aggressive hybrid and electric campaign in Japan and the USA

Only slightly behind the competition, Honda has finally decided to map out its future in the hybrid and electric car lineup. At a press conference, Takanobu Ito, CEO of Honda, announced the plan to follow from now on to offer vehicles with more advanced, greener technology.

Basically, the Honda plan will focus on launching a plug-in hybrid and a city electric car in the USA and Japan by late 2012. For Europe, the Japanese company plans a city car with a diesel engine, roughly at the same time as the hybrids and electric cars do so in North America and Japan.

To begin with, the company will be testing various hybrid and electric models in Japan. One of the steps now being considered is the use of renewable energies, such as solar power, for the plug-in models, which will be part of the tests.

Another goal is to generalise the use of lithium batteries, which will first be used in the next generation of the Civic hybrid model, due to be presented next year.

Via | Reuters