Honda to launch hybrid Civic in India this month
Honda, Japan’s second-largest automaker after Toyota, said it would be the first gasoline-electric hybrid car sold in the fast-growing India market. They will be imported from Japan and priced at 2.15 million rupees ($50,220), the firm said.
Toyota beat Honda to the hybrid market by two years with its Prius in 1997. The vastly improved second-generation Prius in 2003 became an instant hit, helping Japan’s top automaker win a reputation overnight as the front-runner in green technology.
But Honda is hoping to change that. It aims to sell about 500,000 hybrids a year by 2015 — nine times what it sold last year — rivaling Toyota’s own goal of boosting hybrid sales to a 10th of its total sales after 2010.
Honda said it had sold more than 210,000 units of the Civic hybrid since its launch in 2001.
The automaker had previously flagged plans to launch the hybrid model in India but had not given a set date.