Article d'origine :
TOKYO (Reuters) -- Honda Motor Co. will drop plans to develop new clean-diesel engines and will focus on hybrids, the Nikkei business daily reported.
Honda plans to develop a new hybrid system for its larger cars, the newspaper said. A Honda spokeswoman declined to confirm the report.
Honda had initially planned to build clean-diesel and other fuel-saving vehicles at its Yorii factory, north of Tokyo, but has since abandoned the development of clean-diesel engines, planning instead to come up with a new hybrid system to boost fuel economy on its bigger vehicles, Nikkei said on Thursday.
After the global financial crisis hit in 2008, Honda announced plans to delay construction of the Yorii factory, and a plant for 660cc minivehicles at subsidiary Yachiyo Industry Co., both originally scheduled to start production in 2010.
The Nikkei said the Yorii factory would likely begin production in 2013, in line with Honda's latest plan to start in or after 2012.
The paper also said Honda would review its strategy on minivehicles, with a market limited to Japan.
Honda, which had earmarked about 50 billion yen ($565 million) to build the minivehicle plant in western Japan, plans to stop developing commercial-use minivehicles to narrow its product line, the paper said.
Honda CEO Takanobu Ito, who took his post about a year ago, has said he wanted to accelerate the rollout of hybrid cars as environmental regulations tighten around the world.
He is scheduled to brief on Honda's medium-term strategy at a news conference next Tuesday.
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