Bikes & Cars...

Gas prices have risen so high -- thanks to oil prices being over $130 a barrell -- that Honda decided to rethink its hybrid program, which to date has exactly one model: the Civic. Why bother to put a hybrid in a small, inexpensive car that already gets 34 mpg on the highway? Because people will buy it, that's why.

After last month's sales numbers, car makers seem to have gotten the message. Buyers want smaller, more fuel-efficient cars. And if there's a hybrid on board, all the better. Honda heard the message loud and clear, then rolled out its plans to have a four-car hybrid lineup by 2015: the Civic; the Fit; the sporty CRZ; and, as early as next year, a hybrid-only model Honda hopes will knock the Prius from its high and mighty (and million-selling) perch.

The unnamed hybrid will debut in 2009 to do head-to-head battle with the Prius. Like Toyota's best-selling hybrid, this car would be a five-door sedan available only with a hybrid powerplant, but Honda head honcho Takeo Fukui wouldn't say how much it would cost. No name, no price ... sounds vague, though it will likely be based, looks-wise, on the company's Clarity hydrogen-fuel-cell vehicle.