Honda Motor Co., the first car-maker to sell hybrids in the US, said its gasoline-electric hybrid named Accord will be the most fuel-efficient US sedan when it goes on sale, topping competition of Toyota Motor Corp. and Ford Motor Co. models.
“Even before it hits showrooms this fall, the Accord Hybrid is already surpassing the competition and claiming segment leadership,” Mike Accavitti, Honda’s senior vice president of US auto operations, said in a statement for Bloomberg.
The Accord Hybrid which will be presented sometime next year, gets 50 miles (80 kilometers) per gallon of gasoline in the city, 45 miles per gallon on the highway and 47 mpg combined, based on US government testing, Honda reported. While Ford’s Fusion hybrid is also rated 47 mpg combined, Ford faces lawsuits claiming the car’s mileage is overstated. Toyota’s hybrid Camry averages a combined 41 mpg.
Making unchecked claims about fuel economy is a big risk for car makers because customers who fail to match the gas-mileage results printed on the new car’s window sticker often complain and sometimes take legal action against the company. Honda faced lawsuits over earlier versions of its compact Civic hybrid car. Hyundai Motor Co. admitted last year to inflating the fuel-economy scores for some of its vehicles.
Ford Motor Co. even recently have said it would pay customers who bought or leased certain hybrid models to compensate them for fuel economy that allegedly fell short of expectations.
The Accord is the second-best-selling mid-size sedan in the US this year, with more than 256,000 deliveries, behind Toyota Camry’s 287,000. The pattern has changed little for more than a decade.
US sales of electric-drive cars and light trucks, from hybrids to plug-in hybrids and battery-only cars, have gained 28% this year through August to at least 399,070, according to data compiled by Bloomberg and Autodata Corp.
Production of Accord Hybrids began yesterday at Honda’s main North American plant in Marysville, Ohio. The Tokyo-based company said it invested $19 million to enlarge the factory.
Honda’s North American operations are based in Marysville. The company’s American depositary receipts (ADR) rose 0.7% to $38.02 at the close in New York yesterday. They have gained 2.9% this year, compared with a 12% advance in the benchmark NYSE Composite Index.
An American depositary receipt (ADR) is a negotiable security that represents securities of a non-US company that trades in the US financial markets.
Hondas shares advanced 1.3% yesterday while being up more than 50% compared to the same date last year.
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