Honda will re-start production of the Accord Hybrid in Japan next year and may move production to eh US by 2015. Honda Chief engineer Chitoshi Yokota said the move would allow Honda to cut costs. From saving on shipping the Honda Accord plug-in Hybrid to protecting against currency fluctuations, producing the Accord and Accord Plug-in in the USA makes sense.
Yokota said the Accord Hybrids need all the help they can get since marketing a hybrid that is a variant of a current model is harder than marketing a standalone version like the Prius – which makes us wonder why Honda didn’t just build a standalone unit instead of adding a hybrid and plug in hybrid variant to the Accord line?
Honda will start delivering the Accord PlugIn hybrid early next year, with the Accord Hybrid being available later next year. Honda is hoping the different variants will spur hybrid sales which have been down as much as 47% from last year.