Honda’s upmarket brand, the Acura isn’t interested in making less fuel consuming vehicles and considers hybrid engines more suitable for small cars.

Despite increased public interest regarding hybrid technology and competitor Lexus; success in that area, Acura isn’t even considering developing such engines for the time being or the near future. Dick Coliver, vice-president of Acura says: “when you go into the bigger vehicles, it’s going to be very difficult. Our position is it’s better-suited for smaller cars.”

However Acura plans to introduce a diesel powered model sometime in the future, a 2.2litre 4-cilinder I-DTEC, produced by Honda. This may prove to be a bad idea, as recent studies show Americans are less enthused by diesel technology than they are by hybrids.