Honda to release unique-looking hybrid for conspicuous greens

Classy Consciousness

Honda plans to make its hybrid cars more visible by 2009 by redesigning their exterior to stand out from the rest of its models. One of the reasons Honda has been trailing hybrid-market leader Toyota by such a large margin, according to industry analysts, is the Toyota Prius' unique shape that helps the public identify it as different from Toyota's other offerings. And, consumers hope, the people inside the Prius also stand out as unique and eco-friendlier. "Owning a hybrid is all about saying 'Look at what I'm doing for the world,'" says auto analyst John Wolkonowicz of Global Insight. "If you can't say that, the whole purchase is a waste of time." Honda says its redesigned 2009 hybrids will be five-seater cars sold for about $22,000 -- about $1,000 less than a Prius. Honda VP John Mendel admits Toyota has marketed more successfully so far. "The Prius has become synonymous with hybrid; it's the Kleenex of hybrids." Presumably that's a reference to the deep brand-product tie and not a comment on snotty Prius owners. Or maybe it is.

straight to the source: MSNBC.com, Newsweek, Keith Naughton, 03 Sep 2007

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Comments: (1 comment)

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Green just on the surface?

This just shows you how it is these days: Selling a green product not because it "is" green (or at least less damaging), but because it is "percieved" as being friendly to the environment.

I just recently had a conversation with someone at BMW. All the engineers know that the hybrid is not the solution, however all the marketing folks say that you need to have one if you want that currently quickly growing share of the market.

Pretty sweet: The hybrid car - a product that does not help alleviate the problem (may actually make it worse) but is sold in great numbers to the folks who would like to alleviate the problem. And to add to this it is UNPOPULAR to question the merrits of such a popular product.

Will anything really change if we all do what we like to believe is right?
A vehicle that is sold to the public as environmentally less damaging should not be about 'Look at what I'm doing for the world' in the first place. It should be a product scientifically proven to be less harmful to the environment from the beginning to the end of its existence.

If green products are about "appearance" nothing will change. People will continue to do what they have done for decades and buy what they do not need, what can be sold for a profit, and what gives them higher status. The marketing folks know how get want-to-believers to do that. Today it has to be green, organic, non-damaging to the ozone layer, etc. but only to the point that it "appears" to others to be like that.

Come on! The way I drive it even my 10 year old Saturn gets 38-40 mpg. Get a small (even old) car and learn how to drive it. Do it yourself without waiting for a product that gives you the status you are looking for. Because you may get the status, but not what it stands for.

Karsten PolluteLessDotCom

by PolluteLessDotCom at 9:25 AM on 04 Sep 2007

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