Reuters: Honda Fit Shuttle US-Bound
Small-n-funky vehicle nerds, Honda Fit freaks and JDM fetishists with families take note: though we’ve heard no indication of it in the mainstream auto media (and Honda offers no hints of it at its “future cars” page), some Reuters reporting seems to indicate that the Fit Shuttle, which just debuted in Japan, is heading to the US market. Towards the end of a piece on Honda’s silly discount guarantee on out-of-stock cars (Japanese-built cars need not apply… go figure), Reuters notes:
The No. 3 Japanese automaker warned investors on Tuesday that operating profit could fall as much as 65 percent this year because it has had to delay the launch in the United States of major models, including its new Fit Shuttle and a new version of its top-selling Civic
Honda already has 7,000 pre-orders for the Fit Shuttle in Japan, according to another report, which goes on to note that the Shuttle Hybrid costs about $5k less than the Toyota Prius V in Japan. Remind us again, why did Ford decide to cancel its seven-passenger C-Max? To compete more directly with this one-two punch of Japanese hybrids?
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If they bring over the Hybrid, I wonder if it will just as a mediocre competitor to the Prius V as the Insight is to the Prius itself. Honda's Hyrbids are lukewarm at best in terms of trying to beat Toyota, I don't see how this one would be any different.
I don't know about the US, but judging from all the Fits (Jazz over here) and Mazda 5s on the roads here in Norway, they should bring it here. On the other hand, Norway has caught on the CUV fad really hard ( they really fit in perfectly over here),so the refreshed CR-V will still be Honda's main seller here. My grandfather used to have a couple of the late 80's Shuttle 4x4's. Fun and practical cars, that even looked good, hard to find one today.