Ok guys in today's USA Today Honda's CEO Takeo Fukui mentions the new NSX replacement. I have copied and pasted the article below. Either way I have also included the link as well...the mention of the NSX replacement is at the very bottom of the article.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2005-10-18-honda-ceo-usat_x.htm
Honda CEO says hybrids must become less expensive
By Chris Woodyard, USA TODAY
UTSUNOMIYA, Japan — Automakers will to have to slash the cost of developing gas-electric hybrid vehicles compared with conventional models before they truly catch on with the public, Honda Motor CEO Takeo Fukui said Tuesday, one day before Honda's new Civic hybrid goes on sale in the USA.
Honda CEO Takeo Fukui introduces the new Civic hybrid in September.
By Yoshikazu Tsuno, AFP
But the hybrid premium won't disappear until automakers can make the popular gas savers in larger volumes and gain more control over costs of their unique components, Fukui said at Honda's auto-testing center here. (More car news: Photo gallery of Tokyo Auto Show)
Honda hybrid sales are growing, he said. With the newly redesigned Civic hybrid, the first able to move under electric power alone, Honda will boost hybrid production to about 50,000 cars a year, up from the current 30,000. Toyota will sell an estimated 100,000 Prius hybrids this year.
The Civic hybrid is rated at 51 miles per gallon on the highway, a 4-mile-a-gallon improvement over the model it replaces.
AFP/Getty Images
Fukui
The 2006 Civic hybrid is priced at $21,850, 15% more than the $19,060 for the top-of-the-line Civic with a five-speed automatic transmission. The entire Civic lineup has been redone for 2006. The 2005 Civic hybrid came at about the same premium over the top-of-the-line sedan with a four-speed automatic.
"We do still understand the price difference is rather significant for ordinary consumers," Fukui said. He said that automakers have to find a way to reduce the price difference by about half.
To reduce the price difference further will require attacking costs in the key components that separate hybrids from regular cars — the battery, computer modules and electric motors. Reducing those costs will be easier as consumer demand grows, Fukui said.
He said he sees hybrids as just one solution to the move among consumers to save energy. The company also is developing vehicles powered by hydrogen and natural gas. Fukui isn't writing off conventionally powered cars either, saying he thinks there are still more gas savings that can be wrung out of them.
In a wide-ranging interview on the eve of the Tokyo Motor Show, Fukui also:
• Said General Motors' deal with the United Auto Workers to cut worker and retiree health care costs won't pressure Honda to consider changes for its U.S. auto-plant workers.
• Said China's burgeoning auto industry represents more of an opportunity than a threat, although he can see "both aspects."
• Promised to introduce a hot new NSX sports car powered by a giant V-10 engine.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2005-10-18-honda-ceo-usat_x.htm
Honda CEO says hybrids must become less expensive
By Chris Woodyard, USA TODAY
UTSUNOMIYA, Japan — Automakers will to have to slash the cost of developing gas-electric hybrid vehicles compared with conventional models before they truly catch on with the public, Honda Motor CEO Takeo Fukui said Tuesday, one day before Honda's new Civic hybrid goes on sale in the USA.
Honda CEO Takeo Fukui introduces the new Civic hybrid in September.
By Yoshikazu Tsuno, AFP
But the hybrid premium won't disappear until automakers can make the popular gas savers in larger volumes and gain more control over costs of their unique components, Fukui said at Honda's auto-testing center here. (More car news: Photo gallery of Tokyo Auto Show)
Honda hybrid sales are growing, he said. With the newly redesigned Civic hybrid, the first able to move under electric power alone, Honda will boost hybrid production to about 50,000 cars a year, up from the current 30,000. Toyota will sell an estimated 100,000 Prius hybrids this year.
The Civic hybrid is rated at 51 miles per gallon on the highway, a 4-mile-a-gallon improvement over the model it replaces.
AFP/Getty Images
Fukui
The 2006 Civic hybrid is priced at $21,850, 15% more than the $19,060 for the top-of-the-line Civic with a five-speed automatic transmission. The entire Civic lineup has been redone for 2006. The 2005 Civic hybrid came at about the same premium over the top-of-the-line sedan with a four-speed automatic.
"We do still understand the price difference is rather significant for ordinary consumers," Fukui said. He said that automakers have to find a way to reduce the price difference by about half.
To reduce the price difference further will require attacking costs in the key components that separate hybrids from regular cars — the battery, computer modules and electric motors. Reducing those costs will be easier as consumer demand grows, Fukui said.
He said he sees hybrids as just one solution to the move among consumers to save energy. The company also is developing vehicles powered by hydrogen and natural gas. Fukui isn't writing off conventionally powered cars either, saying he thinks there are still more gas savings that can be wrung out of them.
In a wide-ranging interview on the eve of the Tokyo Motor Show, Fukui also:
• Said General Motors' deal with the United Auto Workers to cut worker and retiree health care costs won't pressure Honda to consider changes for its U.S. auto-plant workers.
• Said China's burgeoning auto industry represents more of an opportunity than a threat, although he can see "both aspects."
• Promised to introduce a hot new NSX sports car powered by a giant V-10 engine.
