It’s not a widely known fact but Malaysia is the only the third country in the world (after Japan and United States) to produce a hybrid bearing the Honda badge. And while 10,000 units is relatively modest in the global scale, this milestone was recently celebrated in conjunction with the delivery of the 10,000th unit, a Honda City Hybrid, to new owner Saddam Hassan Bin. Abdul Salim.
The hybrid journey began in 2004 when Honda Malaysia decided to introduce the first-generation Civic Hybrid with the agenda to promote awareness and green technology. If you were lucky, you may have come across a Civic Hybrid police patrol car sometime back in the mid-2000s, but the lack of government incentives then meant that it had no chance in competing against petrol-powered equivalents.
That changed in 2012 when Honda Malaysia started the local assembly of the Jazz Hybrid (based on the second generation Fit/Jazz platform) with duty exemptions at the Pegoh plant in Malacca – the first manufacturer in Malaysia to actually assemble a hybrid model. Thus far, out of the 10,000 units produced, 6,000 units have been the Jazz (previous and current generation), followed by City Hybrid with around 3,400 units and the remainder being the recently introduced HR-V Hybrid at over 600 units.
Do bear in mind that from 2010 to 2013, Honda Malaysia also sold CBU units of the Insight, CR-Z and Honda Civic Hybrid, so the total number of Honda hybrids in Malaysia actually exceeds 10,000.
