Honda CR-Z | First Manual Hybrid?
Honda has made some big strides in the global hybrid arena this year, most impressively with their totally redesigned 2010 Insight (the 2nd most popular hybrid in terms of overall sales every month since it reached dealer showrooms). Now the Big H is releasing new photos and information about the CR-Z hybrid concept, due to go on sale in Japan as early as Q1 of 2010 and potentially reaching the U.S. and Europe before 2011.
In case you’re wondering, it apparently stands for Compact Renaissance Zero which fully explains why CR-Z is better (on a side note, my wife drives a CR-V, which is either a Compact Recreational Vehicle or a Comfortable Runabout Vehicle…so you can see how the naming works). Nonetheless, we should know a lot more about the second redesign of this vehicle as it will be reintroduced at this month’s Tokyo Motor Show. You might recall that it was at this same show in 2007 that we first got a glimpse of design one.
Remember the CRX? How about the Del Sol and the original Honda Insight? Honda has been instrumental in putting trendy 2-seaters on the road for many years and the CRZ has the potential to be their most impressive one yet. One unique feature of this small hybrid sports car is that it has a six speed manual transmission (a hybrid-electric first). This will be joined with a 1.5 liter (i-VTEC) four cylinder engine and an electric motor.
No reports yet on what kind of fuel economy the CR-Z might get, but based on its size and technology I would expect to see it come in around 40-45 MPG in combined city and highway driving. As far as price, again nobody really knows. If I had to guess, I’d say a little more than the Insight and a bit less than the hybrid Civic…so around $24,000 might be close.
Already there are tons of pictures online, and we will obviously have more in 2 weeks or so. I haven’t yet found a video, but one is sure to be in the works on You Tube, so I’ll post it here when it pops up (note - the photo to the left is how the CR-Z concept hybrid looked when it originally debuted back in 2007). More specs and news to follow!
Other Honda CR-Z Resources:
Official website from Honda
Press release from 2007
2008 press release
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[…] of the Insight hybrid. Also coming soon Honda plans to build a Fit hybrid and a sporty new CR-Z hybrid. What all of these hybrids have in common is their relatively small size, but that may soon […]