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Honda chief executive officer Takeo Fukui says that the company's new hybrid, due to be in production early next year, will be a five-seater "accessible" model that will bring hybrid vehicles into the motoring mainstream.

The new car, to be based on the external design of the FCX Clarity fuel cell concept, will use Honda's IMA Integrated Motor Assist idea where the internal combustion engine remains the main power source with the electric motor providing assistance at start-up and during acceleration.

Fukui said the new car would have the battery and control unit beneath the cargo space and that progress had been made on weight reduction.

"In addition, significant cost reduction was achieved through measures including making key components of the system such as the control unit and battery more compact, creating a thinner motor, and further advancing the equipment and processes used to produce the motor," he said.

The new car will be built at Honda's Suzuka factory in Japan where a new electric motor production line with a capacity of 250,000 motors a year will be opened at the end of 2008.

The new hybrid will be aimed at mass markets in Japan, North America and Europe and Fukui said annual sales of 200,000 were expected.

In addition to this new mass market model, Honda is also introducing a "sporty" hybrid based on the CR-Z and a hybrid version of the Jazz model which sells as the Fit in Japan. It already produces a hybrid version of the Civic, but the hybrid Accord is being dropped.

Fukui said the aim was to sell 500,000 hybrid vehicles a year. He said that Honda regarded now as the time to shift the market perception of hybrids from awareness to popularity.

Honda will also introduce a new mini van called the Freed to the Japanese market next week, he said.