The new Accord hybrid from the stable of Honda will surely be grabbing the attention of potential customers. Expected to hit the showrooms this month, the new four-door sedan is powered by a gas-electric system with EPA in city driving as 50 mile-per-gallon.
Currently the hybrid market has been dominated by Toyota with its Prius models. It is reported the new Accord from the Japanese auto giant features full hybrid technology, equipped with gasoline-powered engine and an electric motor as well.
The earlier version of mild hybrid technology of Honda was not able to generate fuel economy like that of Prius, but the new sedan indeed will chip away the rival, says analyst Bill Visnic from Edmunds.com.
Both the companies debuted their hybrid models in late 1990s. However, the full hybrid Prius of Toyota became popular widely with great sales figure, but the mild hybrid of Honda failed to lure enough customers. With the success of Prius, GM too developed their own hybrid.
Chief engineer Koji Ninomiya for the Accord Hybrid said Honda has put everything in its new car and the entire team has done their best, ending up at 50 mpg in city and the combined city-highway rating is 47 mpg, which is almost same to the Ford Fusion hybrid.
