Bargain price hybrid in works at Honda?

Automaker to sell fuel-sipping version of its Fit subcompact for about $12K

TOKYO (Reuters) – Honda Motor Co. plans to sell a low-cost hybrid car, a version of its popular Fit subcompact, a Japanese daily reported, signaling the auto maker’s long-term commitment to the fuel-sipping powertrain.

Japan’s third-biggest auto maker aims to sell the Fit hybrid as early as next year for around

The model could be launched in the business year starting April 2007 and would be sold globally, the paper said.

A spokesman denied Honda had made any decision on whether to hybridize the Fit, but added it had the technological wherewithal to mount its hybrid system, which twins an electric motor and a conventional engine to save fuel, on most of its vehicles.

Reuters