Honda to Halt Prelude; Hybrid Civic Planned

USA Today reported that Honda plans to kill its high-performance Prelude sports coupe next year after 23 years as the sportiest Honda. In a separate development, it plans to begin selling gasoline-electric hybrid-power Civic sedans in the USA about next March, hoping to triple U.S. sales of fuel-efficient hybrid cars.

They went on to report that Honda also gets a version of the Acura MDX sport-utility vehicle "soon," says Honda's U.S. sales chief, Executive Vice President Dick Colliver, but he wouldn't say just when. Though a darling of auto enthusiasts for its powerful engine and crisp handling, sales of the $24,000-$27,000 Prelude are a trickle. It was outsold last month by the $21,000 Honda Insight, a two-seat gas-electric hybrid considered a niche model. The coupe market "is very competitive. (Prelude is) built in Japan, and we haven't been able to get the cost down," Colliver said. Building in the USA instead of in Japan avoids losses from unexpected swings in the dollar-yen relationship, and saves the costs of the 2-week ship trip across the Pacific Ocean. He said Honda will introduce another coupe, "a completely different design," as a 2003 model. It is expected to slot between today's Prelude and the mainstream Honda Accord coupe in size, price and image.