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October 21, 2005
Hybrid car market in Korea heating up
Soon after Toyota's announcement, Japan's Honda Motor has joined the bandwagon to offer hybrid cars in Korea. Because of inadequate or total lack of subsidies in Asia, automakers are targeting high end models where price between regular and hybrid models are incremental.
Honda Motor Corp. plans to begin sales of its Accord gasoline-electric hybrid cars in Korea in mid-2006, and if plan works out, Honda will be the first to introduce a hybrid car in the Korean market.
Honda's primary competitor in the hybrid segment, Toyota Motors Corp., had also expressed its hope earlier to launch its Lexus hybrid RX-400h as early as next August.
However, hybrid versions of high-end vehicles by both companies are not expected to sell at significant volumes potentially having small impact on environment and aggregate fuel consumption.
Because of subsidies in the US, hybrid versions of low-end models have been very popular.
Posted by admin at October 21, 2005 09:30 AM