Honda has released pictures of the new Honda CR-Z that will be unveiled at the upcoming Tokyo Auto Show next month. It will reach showrooms by next year and will compete head on with Volkswagen Scirocco. The car is almost production ready and will have petrol-electric power train. CRZ is Honda latest lightweight sports car where CR-Z stands for 'Compact Renaissance Zero' - an expression intended to capture the idea of renaissance in the design of compact cars that begins anew from fundamentals.
Only the exteriors of the car have been refurbished from the version that was released in 2007 at the Tokyo Motor Show. The new CRZ will be fitted with six speed manual transmission rather than traditional CVT used in most hybrid vehicles which is quite unusual for the hybrid vehicles. The concept will be unveiled in Tokyo with the full production version to be on display in Detroit at the 2010 NAIAS. The car will be produced in Japan and will go on sale in the UK and the US by February 2010. When it hits the UK market, the new Honda CRZ will be the world’s first sports hybrid car, and the first ever petrol-electric vehicle to use a six-speed manual transmission.
