Electric Honda Car And The Toyota Prius
With the rise in gasoline prices and the sustained increase in worldwide gasoline consumption, electric-hybrid cars are becoming ever more in vogue. The premium wearing price tag of these, often odd ball styled vehicles are no more just being considered by the likes of "environmentally conscious," and always telling everyone about it, Hollywood.
So what do the common folk do about the high price of gasoline, and perhaps about the environment, consider a hybrid electric vehicle. This article will on the mainstream hybrid electric offerings of two major hybrid electric car manufacturers.
The first, and most prolific, of the hybrid electric vehicles discussed is the Toyota Prius. Introduced in 1997 in Japan, and 1999 in the US, the Prius has become the world's best-selling hybrid electric vehicle. The car quirky styling speaks to the Hollywood elite, who MUST let everyone know their different and saving the environment.
However, the practically sized interior (comparable to the interior space available in a Toyota Camry) speaks to the average car buyer, who wants high fuel efficiency, but not a miniature offering. But until recently, the high premium of the cost of the Prius was to high to be recouped by the fuel savings when compared to a 4 cylinder Toyota Camry. However, as gasoline prices have rise that may soon change. The next hybrid electric vehicle discussed is the Honda Insight. The first gasoline electric hybrid to be offered in the US, introduced only a few months before the Prius, was the Honda Insight. The Insight, however, never became the sales success of the Prius due to its overly quirky, even compared to the Prius, styling and its two-seat configuration. The Insight did get better gas mileage though. The next the electric Honda cars discussed will the more mainstream offerings. These offerings include the Honda Civic Hybrid and the Honda Accord Hybrid. The only way to tell these vehicles apart from their gasoline only variants are the very subtle trim differences and the little "hybrid" tag attached to the rear fascia. Unlike Toyota with its Camry Hybrid, Honda decided to gear the Accord Hybrid for performance rather for fuel economy. The Honda Accord electric hybrid car was the fastest Accord ever built and achieved fuel economy comparable to the four cylinder Honda Accord. But the car buying public was more interested in fuel economy and fuel economy only, and the Honda Accord Hybrid electric car was discontinued. In contrast, the Toyota Camry Hybrid was recently introduced and is selling at a fast pace with no incentives, unlike the Honda Accord. The Camry Hybrid is geared for fuel economy and is mid pack in the Camry line-up when it comes to power and speed. But with high gasoline prices, that was the right move to make. For now, Toyota will continue to dominate the hybrid electric market until Honda can create an electric Honda car that can compete on the basis of fuel economy.
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