News: Dedicated Hybrid Coming To Honda’s 2018 Truck Lineup

Car Hybrid System To Migrate to Trucks

Honda revealed at the Detroit auto show that it is adding a dedicated hybrid model to its light truck lineup in 2018.

The announcement was made during the introduction of Honda’s all-new Odyssey minivan by Takahiro Hachigo, the automaker’s president and CEO.

The new hybrid model will be manufactured at a plant in the U.S. as part of the Honda Electrification Initiative, which calls for the expansion of the company’s electrified vehicles.

“Half of the all-new models Honda will launch in the United States in the coming two years will be electrified vehicles,” Hachigo said. “In the long term, electrified vehicles are key to the future of carbon-free mobility.”

Honda Two-Mode Hybrid

The executive stated it would begin to use the company’s two-mode hybrid system that powers cars in its light trucks.

Currently the two-mode hybrid is employed in the Accord Hybrid, a midsize passenger sedan which uses a 2.0-liter Atkinson cycle four-cylinder engine and two electric motors that produce a combined output of 212 horsepower.

The Accord’s 49 mpg city rating makes it the most fuel efficient midsize car in America without a plug.

Model Type Not Released

It was not revealed what type of truck will be introduced next year: pickup, crossover SUV or perhaps a minivan.

Honda’s current lineup includes the Ridgeline pickup, the CR-V and HR-V small crossovers, the Pilot midsize SUV and the Odyssey minivan.

Toyota’s RAV4 Hybrid compact crossover has been a winner since it was introduced last year, leap frogging over the Camry Hybrid to become the second best-selling hybrid vehicle, trailing only the Toyota Prius.

General Motors was less successful with its two-mode hybrid system used in Chevrolet and GMC full-size pickup trucks and SUVs a few years back,

which hasn’t deterred Ford from announcing it will bring out a rear-drive F-150 pickup by 2020.

Honda’s announcement seems ill-timed since hybrid vehicle sales have been decreasing the past three years due to a combination of low gasoline prices and a trend of increasing sales of plug-in hybrid vehicles.

To that, Hachigo said, “Gas prices have reduced demand for hybrid vehicles in the U.S. But in the long term, electrified vehicles are key to the future of carbon-free mobility.”

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