Honda going lighter, adding more hybrids

Honda Motor Co. is reviewing its entire lineup with the aim of building less expensive and more fuel-efficient vehicles, Honda CEO Takanobu Ito says.

In the case of some next-generation products--including the crucial Civic platform used on a variety of vehicles worldwide--that means making major changes to vehicles already well along in the development process.

"We are taking more time to rethink the new Civic and all our models," Ito told Automotive News through an interpreter. "We had to revisit our development work and planning to comply with the change in the environment."

Smaller, lighter Civic

Specifically, Honda executives told Civic designers and engineers to make the car smaller, lighter and more fuel efficient than originally designed, said Tsuneo Tanai, COO for automotive operations.

Tanai said that before Lehman Bros. imploded in September 2008 and intensified the global financial crisis, Honda already was concerned about rising oil, steel and aluminum prices.

But Lehman Bros.' collapse and the global economic meltdown that followed prompted Ito to act. In December, his mandated re-evaluation led to killing Honda's V-8 and rear-wheel-drive programs.

It also has added electric vehicles, which Honda initially opposed, to bump up the Honda fleet's fuel efficiency and lower its emissions.

The next Civic originally was planned to be larger than the current model, but now its exterior will be smaller. Honda aims to create a perceived sense of increased roominess inside without increasing the vehicle's overall size.