Honda to Sell Hybrid Subcompact

TOKYO, Feb 22, 2006; Reuters reported that Honda Motor Co. plans to start selling a hybrid version of its "Fit" subcompact model globally as early as the year starting in April 2007, the Nihon Keizai business daily said on Wednesday.

A Honda official said the sales plan for the hybrid subcompact had not yet been decided yet.

The model is likely to be the world's first hybrid vehicle to be priced at less than 2 million yen ($16,840) and Honda aims to sell it for around 1.4 million yen ($11,790), about 200,000 yen more than the conventional Fit model, the newspaper said.