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OCTOBER 18, 2004
Honda Goes After The Racing Crowd Imagine drag-racing in the backyard in a hybrid car. Honda can. The Japanese auto maker plans to take its gas-electric hybrid technology to a new crowd -- to those who aspire to tire-smoking engine performance. On Dec. 3, Honda Motor Co. (HMC ) will sell a 255-horsepower Accord hybrid that gets 30 mpg in the city and 37 on the highway. The $29,000 hybrid will be faster than the stock 240-hp Accord, and it will get a 40% fuel economy boost for a $2,000 premium. Says one Honda exec: "You can have your cake and eat it, too." That pitch may work. The company's hybrid Civic is overshadowed by Toyota's Prius because it's slower and its buyers can't make a fashion statement with the drab looks of a Civic. When Honda sells the Accord, on the other hand, its marketers will brag about 0-to-60-mph acceleration (about 6.5 seconds) that's a second faster than a regular Accord. That could draw even more attention to a hot-selling niche. "That's a smart way to do it," says AutoPacific Inc. Vice-President James N. Hall. Indeed, bragging about 0-to-60 times will be a first for hybrid owners. If a fast and efficient Accord has enough allure, the hybrid market could get yet another turbocharge.  By David Welch in Detroit Get BusinessWeek directly on your desktop with our RSS feeds.  Add BusinessWeek news to your Web site with our headline feed. Click to buy an e-print or reprint of a BusinessWeek or BusinessWeek Online story or video. To subscribe online to BusinessWeek magazine, please click here. Learn more, go to the BusinessWeekOnline home page  | | |
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