Honda Fit arrives in US showrooms next summer

Honda Motor Co. president Takanobu Ito says the redesigned Fit, due in U.S. showrooms next summer, is the company's “most important” car. He predicted it would see its biggest sales jump in the States and will eventually surpass the Civic as Honda's No. 1 seller. The third-gen Fit boasts fuel-efficiency gains over the outgoing model (about 28 percent better across the lineup), according to Honda, even though it is 2 inches longer and has a slightly bigger interior. Ito wouldn't give a sales target for North America but said the Fit's biggest growth potential is here in the U.S. The new Fit is set to eventually spawn a crossover and sedan, and will be built in a new Mexican plant with capacity to crank out 200,000 cars a year.

For comparison, Honda sold 57,900 Fits in 2012. The plant will open next spring, and the new Fit will hit U.S. showrooms next summer.

Meanwhile, Honda says its 2014 Accord Hybrid will carry an EPA-rated 50 mpg in the city, 45 on the highway and 47 combined. The 50-mpg figure is more than double the last Accord Hybrid's 24-mpg city rating—that car was sold in the 2005-07 model years and then discontinued—and means the new car will be able to eek out 673 miles on a tank of gas.

The new Accord Hybrid's powertrain uses two electric motors instead of the previous model's one, and lighter, more powerful lithium-ion batteries replace the nickel-metal hydride battery pack. The new Accord Hybrid will be in showrooms in October.

By Autoweek editors