Honda’s Prius rival coming in 2009

As we told you last week, Honda is planning the world’s cheapest hybrid to go head-to-head with Toyota. Honda hopes to sell 200,000 units annually for its global hybrid, 100,000 of which are expected to come from North American sales.

According to Honda’s COO Takanobu Ito, the car will hit the market in 2009 and will be a dedicated hybrid with no gasoline version. Ito says that the car will be priced below the Honda Civic Hybrid and right above the Honda Fit. He declined to say whether the car would be powered by a lithium-ion battery.

We’re not sure exactly what this hybrid will look like but it is expected to be a sedan that will take cues from the Honda Small Hybrid Sports (pictured above) concept seen at Geneva earlier this year, although it will be a little bigger in size and proportions.

We also learned last week that Honda will produce a production version of the CR-Z concept, a small hybrid which is expected by 2010. Honda is also set to debut a production version of the FCX concept at the LA Auto Show in November.

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)

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