Honda Planning Small Diesel Car

Mar 28 2011

Eco-conscious car finance buyers will no doubt by happy to hear that Honda has confirmed the company's plans to launch a car with a smaller diesel engine to place it in a better position to compete with European car manufacturers.

 

David Hodgetts, Managing Director of Honda UK, told Fleet News in an interview that the company plans to introduce the new engine about a year after the launch of the next-generation Civic model.  The possibility also exists that it will be available in some Honda Jazz and Honda Accord models.

 

Honda initially started offering cars with diesel engines in 2004 when they launched an Accord powered by a diesel engine.  Subsequently, they also introduced a diesel-powered Civic and a CR-V.  The original 2.2 litre 140 i-CTDi engine was used in the CR-V up to 2007 when it was replaced with the new i-DTEC engine delivering 150 bhp.  The diesel Accord also switched to this engine in 2008.

 

Honda's competitors were, however, able to attract more business because they offered a wider range of diesel engines.  The smaller diesels offered by many European manufacturers allowed them to offer cheaper models aimed at the car finance market, while Honda could only compete in the upper end of the market.

 

The new diesel-powered Honda Civic will apparently have CO2 emission figures of less than 110g/km.

 

Given the popularity of upper-medium cars such as the 1.6-litre Citroen C5, Peugeot 508, Ford Mondeo and Volswagen Passat among car finance fleet owners, it is highly likely that Honda will eventually also bring out an Accord fitted with the new engine.

 

Author: Louise Hutchinson

More from HONDA News

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---