October 23rd, 2007 · No Comments

If plug-in hybrid cars and trucks become a common sight, don’t look for the Honda badge to be among them. Honda Motor Co. Chief Executive Takeo Fukui believes plug-in hybrid gasoline-electric vehicles don’t have enough environmental benefits for Honda to pursue, according to The Wall Street Journal. Toyota executives recently made similarly disparaging comments about plug-in hybrids.

General Motors, of course, has a high profile project to develop the gas-electric hybrid Chevy Volt. “My feeling is that the kind of plug-in hybrid currently proposed by different auto makers can be best described as a battery electric vehicle equipped with an unnecessary fuel engine and fuel tank,” Mr. Fukui told The Journal. GM is sticking to its plan to launch the Volt in the U.S. by 2010. You can track news about the Volt’s progress on the official GM site.

– Tom Kessler

UPDATE Oct. 31, 2007 – GM-Volt reported that GM’s Bob Lutz says the company has received the first experimental battery packs from its supplier and that “he hopes for 60,000 to 100,000 vehicles to be produced in the first model year.”