CarSeekBlog

It’s been three years since whispers of a hybrid version of the Honda Fit (marketed as the Honda Jazz in Europe) first began stirring the imaginations of car aficionados, and now it’s finally happening: next month, and the Paris Motor Show, the 2011 Honda Fit Hybrid will make it’s debut, and, according to Hybrid Cars, it won’t just be the smallest hybrid being offered, it’s likely to have the lowest price as well.

The actual car will be on sale in Japan this fall, and is expected in the United States next year. The Japanese price will be around $18,600, which is roughly $3,500 less than the current “cheapest hybrid,” the Honda Insight, and about $4,600 more expensive than the gasoline-engine Fit. While pricing in Japan doesn’t typically match pricing in the U.S., if Honda sticks with their strategy, the American version will probably have a base MSRP of about $17,000.

Honda is withholding the hybrid Fit’s specs until the Paris Motor Show, which runs from September 30 to October 17, but experts agree that it’s probably going to have better fuel economy than the gasoline-only Honda Fit, which makes 28 mpg in the city and 35 mpg on open highway, and many anticipate it will come in second behind the Toyota Prius as the second most fuel efficient hybrid on the market.

Filed under: Going Green, Honda by Mel