The new Honda FIT defies small-car convention. Packed with innovative ideas to make driving more fun and reliable, its dimensions don't determine its specification. USA Launch in 2006.

For_Immediate_Release:
Honda plans to sell in the United States a variation of the front-drive subcompact Honda Fit, which is sold in Japan and Europe.

Honda executives have said the company will bring a car smaller than the Civic to this country but until now have not identified it.

"It will be a variation of the Fit, and it will be here not too far in the future," said Dick Colliver, executive vice president of American Honda Motor Co. Inc., at the Detroit auto show.

"Toyota has done a good job with the Scion," he said. "So that's where we're looking, to bring back the youth we've lost. With the current cars we have, that segment has shrunk."

No separate brand

But unlike Scion, Honda will not establish a separate brand for the new small car, Colliver said.

Also, the small car will not be shipped bare like the Scion and accessorized according to dealer and customer orders.

"We had conversations on whether to bring it in slashed down but decided against it," he said. "We plan to load it up. It's better to build it the way they want it. We also looked at establishing a separate brand for the new car but decided against it."

He declined to provide any other details about the car.

Michael Robinet, vice president for global forecast services at CSM Worldwide in Farmington Hills, Mich., said the U.S. Fit will arrive early in 2006 as a 2007 model. He said it will be powered by a 1.5-liter engine equipped with dual overhead camshafts and direct fuel injection.

Some dealers believe the sticker price will be about $12,000. The base price of the 2005 Civic is $13,675 including a $515 destination charge.

Civic sales, aided by cut-rate loans, rose 3.2 percent to 309,196 last year.

Factory equipped

Robinet said although Scion has done a good job attracting customers who want to accessorize their cars, he believes Honda will do well equipping its vehicles at the factory.

"Honda does a lot of production here, so they can more accurately predict what the customers want," Robinet said. "Honda would rather make sure it has the Honda quality through and through and their warranty on it. There is less room for error."

Toyota introduced its Scion youth brand nationally last year. It posted sales of sales of 99,259 in 2004 vs. 10,898 in 2003 when the vehicle was sold in limited markets. Scion has three models.

"We're all hoping Honda brings in a new product line with a more affordable car that our younger and less-affluent buyers can purchase," said Larry Mallory, chairman of the Honda dealer council in a recent interview.

Mallory, owner of Honda of Kirkland in Kirkland, Wash., also said the dealers did not want a separate franchise for the small car: "The two-channel system they currently have, Honda and Acura, is enough to accommodate any and all new products coming out."

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