No next-generation Honda Fit for U.S. until next year

No next-generation Honda Fit for U.S. until next year

Last week Honda revealed a new Fit for Japan and well, everyone in the U.S. that got a look at the car was pretty excited and thought they’ll hold out a couple of months for the new 2008 model to arrive in our showrooms. Well Honda is saying that the new 2008 Honda Fit won’t come to the U.S. until fall of 2008.

The first-generation Fit didn’t arrive in the U.S. until April 2006, and the Honda executives believe that it still has some life left in it before it decided to bring in a redesigned version.

“We just introduced the Fit, so it still has freshness among customers,” Honda Executive Vice President Koichi Kondo said last week during the launch of the redesigned Fit.

Honestly Kondo, we’d much rather have the new Fit ASAP.

The new 2008 Honda Fit is powered by a 1.3-liter i-VTEC engine that produces 98 horsepower. The engine is matted with a new continuously variable transmission (CVT). The new Honda Fit will have a fuel-economy of 56mpg. Also new to the Fit lineup is a Road Sailing (RS) version which is powered by 1.5-liter i-VTEC engine that produces 118 horsepower and gets a fuel-economy of 46 mpg.

Honda will start selling the car this Friday for a price of 1.29 million yen ($11,056). The company hopes to sell 12,000 units a month in its homeland. Honda is still aiming for 70,000 units in the U.S. for this year.

2008 Honda Fit Gallery:

2008 Honda Fit  2008 Honda Fit  2008 Honda Fit                      

 

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)

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