Honda Eyes Production Cut as Accord Hybrid Sales Fall

Honda Motor Co. may be learning a hard lesson about hybrids: It’s better to hold the horses.

A Honda executive said Thursday that the automaker might reduce production of its gas-electric Accord hybrid sedan because the vehicle, marketed as a performance model rather than a fuel miser, hasn’t been selling as well as hoped.

It was the second time this week that auto executives attending the New York Auto Show have raised questions about the popularity of hybrid technology.

Nissan Motor Co. Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn said Wednesday that hybrid sales appeared to be slowing, something he has frequently suggested could happen as consumers weigh hybrids’ extra sticker cost against their fuel economy.

Accord hybrid sales are off 51% from last year, when the model was introduced and was still a novelty because it mates a V-6 engine with Honda’s hybrid electric drive system that gives it 253 horsepower, versus 244 in the non-hybrid model.

Dick Colliver, executive vice president of Torrance-based American Honda Motor Co., told the Associated Press that the gas-electric Accord was having “a hard time in the market.” Consumers haven’t been convinced that the hybrid Accord would provide much in the way of fuel savings, he said.

The hybrid model does deliver about 25% better fuel economy than the conventional V-6 gasoline Accord, but it also has a sticker price of $33,540, about $3,700 more than the gasoline model.

Not all hybrids are hurting: Sales of Honda’s smaller Civic hybrid are up 32% this year.

But Toyota Motor Corp.’s Prius, while still the best-selling hybrid in the market, has dropped 3.3% below last year’s pace to 22,123 sales for the first three months.

J.D. Power & Associates estimates that, overall, about 260,000 hybrids will be sold in the U.S. this year -- about 1.5% of the passenger vehicle market.

Toyota still seems to believe that the idea of a performance hybrid will catch on -- at least among luxury buyers.

The company’s Lexus division announced Wednesday that it would introduce a sedan in 2008 that pairs a V-8 engine with a hybrid system, supercharging the gas engine. The new Lexus LS 600h would have about 420 horsepower -- a record for a hybrid.