Japanese car, motorcycle and engine maker Honda Motor Co., Ltd. has announced it will drop its hybrid Honda Accord from the fall product line-up. "We have found that our hybrid system works better on smaller cars," said Honda spokesman Chris Naughton. Instead, Honda has previously said it will introduce a new 4-cylinder diesel engine.

Honda's current hybrid Accord features a 6-cylinder engine which is designed to balance power and economy. However, it appears that people buying hybrids are primarily interested in economy. The rival hybrid, Toyota Camry, has a 4-cylinder engine that provides better fuel economy. Hybrids accounted for 14 percent of Camrys sold last month, but just 1.4 percent of Accords, according to Power Information Networks.

"We have seen that what interests hybrid consumers is ultimate fuel economy," Honda's Chris Naughton said.

"The reason it didn't sell is because the price premium wasn't justified by the gas mileage," pointed out Jesse Toprak, an analyst with automotive website Edmunds.com. The Accord's combined city-highway mileage of 31 miles per gallon was indeed not much better than the 28 mpg delivered by the four-cylinder nonhybrid Accord.

Toyota Motor Corp.'s Prius hybrid is the hybrid car market leader, with 729,800 units sold since December 1997.

However, as previously announced, Honda has in the works a brand new hybrid car slated for 2009. Now with the Accord drop, it is certain that Honda will put its marketing and engineering might behind the new car, in order to recuperate ground lost to its rivals.

With more than 14 million internal combustion engines built each year, Honda is the largest engine-maker in the world.