By Fred Lee
For those of you who have toyed with the idea of buying a hybrid but were discouraged by the price, you are not alone. In fact, despite the growing concern for the environment, not to mention the skyrocketing price of gas, hybrid cars still only represent a small percentage of global car sales, and a major reason for this is the cost.
Hybrids are considered the wave of the future because they not only reduce emissions, addressing the issue of climate change, but they get great gas mileage, an important consideration with the current price of oil. It should be noted that hybrids can also improve the power of the engine, which compromises any advantages in fuel efficiency and emissions. Whatever the application, however, the technology makes the cars more expensive.
Because of this, they are the vehicle of choice for only a small niche of people who can afford them, and they currently enjoy a special status amongst the image conscious celebrity-set. For most average consumers, however, they are not an option.
That may soon change.
Honda Motor Corporation, one of the largest car manufacturers in the world and a leader in fuel efficient technology, has unveiled it’s plan to introduce a low-cost hybrid by 2009. If they can pull it off, they hope to make the hybrid a more mainstream car that will be more appealing to the general public, with the ultimate goal of achieving greater sales and broader appeal than their current incarnation.
This, of course, is making Detroit nervous, and may signal a need for American car makers to start making greener and more fuel efficient vehicles, something they could afford to ignore in the past because hybrid cars weren’t worth their attention (due to such a small market share) while gas-guzzling SUVs have such high profit margins.
Honda, meanwhile, has had to confront a growing need to compete with Toyota, which has not only grown to be the world’s largest automaker, but makes the car that has become synonymous with the hybrid movement, the Prius. Honda is therefore faced with the seemingly insurmountable task of challenging Toyota’s dominance in the market.
Concurrently, Toyota is racing to lower production costs on the Prius, as well, which would hopefully result in a lower cost to the consumer. All eyes are on a potentially favorable car buyers market in 2009.
In the meantime, with even adamant global warming naysayers warming up (no pun intended) to the possibilities of an ecological disaster on the horizon, maybe it’s time that we got over our need to drive huge SUVs and start moderating our fuel consumption.
Then again, as gas prices hovering around $4.00 and with no ceiling in sight, we may have little choice in the matter.
译文:
本田的混合动力
作者 弗里德 李
我们虽然想买混合动力的汽车但最终会被它的价格泼一盆冷水。事实上姑且不提飞涨的油价，另外就是我们很关心环境的，混合动力汽车还是由于价格原因只有很小的市场占有率。
混合动力被誉为下一个流行潮流，因为他不仅减少了给气候带来威胁的尾气排放，而且还解决了目前的高油价问题。值得一提是这还是内燃机协调燃料效能和排放方面技术进步的表现。不论如何应用，科技总是会使车的涨价。
就是因为这样，只有在一特殊的小市场里的少部分的人们可以买的起这样的车，他们在名人中有一种形象特殊的地位。对于大多数的人来说，他们不并不是一个选择。
那种情况很快就会改变的。
全球最大的汽车生产商和燃料效能技术机构本田机车公司将要在2009年推出一款低价位的混合动力汽车。如果可以的话他们希望使这款车成为大众能接受的主流车型，达到更大的销售量并具有更广泛的吸引力的目标。
当然这样做会使底特律紧张起来，并给美国的汽车生产商们发出了一个信号：你们应该着手生产他们原来忽视的东西，那些更环保和燃油经济性更好的汽车了，在过去由于混合动力很少的市场占有率和高油耗svu车型有更大的利润使他们并不重视混合动力的研发。
现在本田不仅正在和全球最大的汽车制造商而且还是制造普锐斯---混合动力汽车的代名词的丰田公司来较量了。本田挑战一个看上去不可战胜被丰田掌控的市场。
同时丰田正致力于降低普锐斯的制造成本，从而降低其市场价格。所有的注意都集中在2009年的潜在的汽车消费市场。
于此同时，态度强硬的全球变暖的反对者更坚信生态灾难就要来临，或许已经是到结束我们对suv车型的钟爱，并着手降低成品油消费的时候了。
油价涨到了4美元并且还在无限制的增长，我们可能只有很小的选择空间了。