Honda's next hybrid is almost here

They do in California. A new law recently enacted by the Governor to allow single passenger hybrids into car pool lanes is great, but here’s the rub: the new law specifies that said hybrids must be rated at 45 mpg or greater, and the Hybrid Accord comes in at around 37 mpg (30 mpg city driving) on the highway, eight bitter miles short of making that long, hot afternoon commute a little less painful. To top it off, sales figures for the Civic hybrid indicate that people aren’t exactly thrilled about an even-more efficient Honda, though August sales figures show solid gains.

Go figure. You give the people what they want, and then all of a sudden they choose the Prius. Honda’s hope is that this will change with the addition of performance – they claim a half-second better performance getting to 60 mph -- and a better all-around system for fuel efficiency. That’s why the technology costs more, of course, and it seems that Honda is bent on making that technology worth every penny. In addition to the Honda Integrated Motor Assist (IMA) hybrid system, Honda engineers have also included a Variable Cylinder Management (VCM) system, which deactivates the rear bank of cylinders as needed – a smart engine that uses only the amount of power needed to get the job done.