Honda Motor Co. Ltd. is facing a shortage of its hot-selling Fit small car in North America while halving production of its Accord Hybrid sedan as sales slump.

The subcompact Fit five-door has been on sale in the United States since April 20, and in the first 45 days of availability some 9,900 units have been sold. That rate exceeds the automaker’s 38,000- to 42,000-unit annual target.

At the same time, the Accord Hybrid, which went on sale in late 2004, never has achieved its annual sales target of 20,000 units. U.S. sales through May, at 2,849 units, have plunged 58.5% versus year-ago, according to Ward’s data.

A Honda spokesman says output of the vehicle has been reduced by 50% in the first five months of 2006 vs. the same period year-ago at Honda’s Sayama, Japan, plant.

Acceptance of the V6 powered Accord Hybrid, which for the ’06 model year begins at $30,990, has been hampered by its high sticker price and performance-oriented nature, says Dan Bonawitz, vice president-auto operations, for American Honda Motor Co. Inc.

“The Accord (Hybrid) is tuned to be ‘plus performance,’ and with the current gas prices and price differential, it’s just not doing that well,” he says at a media preview for the Acura RDX cross/utility vehicle.

Bonawitz won’t say whether the automaker will scrap the model when the next-generation Accord debuts next year, or if it is looking at a 4-cyl. hybrid version akin to Toyota Motor Corp.’s new Camry Hybrid. Honda does say it is monitoring sales of the Camry Hybrid closely.

At the same time, demand for the Fit subcompact is outstripping supply. “It looks like (the Fit) is going to do very well,” Bonawitz says.  However, he says Honda is not upping the Fit’s U.S. sales target, which it dropped earlier this year from an initial goal of 50,000-60,000 units due to lack of capacity and a desire to better understand who the early buyers are.

“We probably have a little bit of flexibility there. But as you know, it’s a very popular vehicle globally – there’s not a lot of extra room,” Bonawitz says of production capacity for the Fit, which is being built for North America at Honda’s Suzuka, Japan, plant.

Speculation is Honda could produce the Fit at a new plant it plans to build somewhere in the U.S. Midwest.

Source: “Honda: Too Many Accord Hybrids, Not Enough Fits,” www.wardsauto.com