Honda has announced that its 2013 Fit EV will be available for lease in selected markets in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maryland, New York, and New Jersey later this month.
Honda has announced that its 2013 Fit EV, which was launched in California and Oregon last July, will be available for lease in selected markets in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maryland, New York, and New Jersey later this month at a price of $389 per month for a three-year lease.
Honda’s electric 4-door hatchback features a 20 kWh battery and a 92 kW (123 hp) AC synchronous motor with 189 ft-lb of torque. The EPA has certified a range of 82 miles, and an efficiency rating of 29 kWh per 100 miles. The Fit EV’s 118 MPGe rating makes it one of the most fuel-efficient vehicles ever produced.
“Expanding the availability of the ultra-efficient Fit EV to the East Coast is the next logical step in Honda’s strategic and customer-focused approach to growing the market for low-CO2 sustainable mobility technologies,” said Honda VP Steve Center. “Combining Honda’s extensive EV experience with customers – which began 15 years ago with the Honda EV Plus – with the real-world feedback from early Fit EV lessees in several different markets will help us prepare for growing adoption of electric vehicles.”
Cautious preparation indeed. Back in January 2012, Mr Center told PluginCars.com that Honda plans to make only a few thousand Fit EVs over the next few years, and appeared to dismiss any idea of a major ad campaign, saying, “You don’t need to market them the way you do to sell 300,000 Civics.” When Honda launched the Fit EV, spokesman Robert Langford told InsideEVs that the company expected to deliver about 40 per month.
It has fallen short of even that timid target. According to AutoblogGreen, Honda leased a mere 93 Fit EVs during the last half of 2012, and only nine more in January 2013. Honda has done no marketing for the Fit EV that we are aware of (meanwhile, Nissan has run extensive TV and magazine ads for the LEAF, and sold 9,819 in 2012).
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