TESTING IN SA READY TO START

+ Click to Enlarge GREEN DOESN'T MEAN BORING: Honda's CR-Z is a hybrid with muscles; it will go on sale in Japan in February 2010 and in South Africa later in the year.

July 15, 2009

Honda CEO Takanobu Ito has announced plans to begin sales of the CR-Z sports hybrid in Japan from February 2010 – and if all goes well it will be released in South Africa later in the year.

The CR-Z concept car made its world debut at the 40th Tokyo Motor Show in 2007.

The CR-Z model will join the Insight and Civic Hybrid, to broaden Honda's range of compact hybrid models powered by its "integrated motor assist" system.

Honda SA said factory technicians would begin local testing on the Insight in Gauteng later this week with a view to releasing the model in South Africa in the first quarter of 2010.

Ito said the IMA system would also be introduced in the Jazz compact within the next few years and that Honda was developing a hybrid system intended for medium and large vehicles.

He said a third production line at Honda's Suzuka factory had begun producing the Insight to cope with demand in Japan.

Ito succeeds Takeo Fukui as CEO of Honda, having previously been President of Honda's R&D division. Like his predecessor, Ito has a background as an engineer and was instrumental in bringing the revolutionary NSX from concept to reality.

Ito was in charge of one of the most challenging development areas as the project leader for the NSX's aluminium body shell.