Thread: Honda hybrid car to be launched in India soon

Honda motors have announced that they will start selling the Honda hybrid cars which run on both petrol and electricity.
These cars will be available for a test drive at all Honda showrooms across the country very soon.

This car wont sell in India in my opinion as it will be priced in the range of Rs20Lakh + as it will have more then 100% import duty due to the fact that they wont be manufactured in India but will be imported from the Honda plant in Japan.

If Honda get more then 300-400 sales a year then I suppose they will start making them here and the cost would come below Rs 10 Lakh in that case and thats what would push this car's sales.

I have seen these hybrid cars in States but never had a chance to drive one.. Have you driven one of these? whats is it like and is it sluggish while running on battries? Does the a/c work ok with just the battries?

I drove my friend's Toyota Prius in USA.

It does feel sluggish (whether on batteries or gasoline) as compared to a pure IC enhgine car and is expensive also but the US Gov gives some subsidies:

- Some $5000 IT rebate in first year, $3000 in 2nd year and $1000 in third year (not exactly sure on these figures)
- Owners are allowed to drive in the High Occupancy (car-pool/bus/taxi) lanes even when driving single

A/C works fine on batteries also.

The rebates are pretty good and being allowed in high occupancy lanes sure saves a lot of time.. Ive only seen those lanes in California (Losangeles) no where else.. nothing of that sort in NJ ..
It would be great to have that kind of traffic arrangement in India.

i think we need more hybrid cars ... maybe more cheaper one's