Honda announced last year that it would stop producing the Fit EV, a battery-electric flivver based on the previous-generation Fit hatchback. Don’t despair though: If you were really hoping to get your hands on a plug-in Fit, Honda just announced that it will extend the Fit EV lease program by two years, for both current and prospective customers.
This means that, for $199 per month, you’ll get to silently glide about in Honda’s 118 MPGe hatchback with an EPA-estimated 82-mile battery range. That monthly bill, reduced $60 from the previous offer, includes unlimited mileage, routine maintenance, and collision coverage, says the automaker.
To be fair, you’d have to be particularly hot on electric vehicles to jump on a lease offer for a used 2013 or 2014 Honda plug-in. And while the little Honda does have the benefit of a fairly quick charge time—from “low charge warning” to full in less than three hours when plugged into a 240V outlet, says Honda—it’s pretty clear that Honda built the Fit EV for a very specific market. Namely: Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, California and Oregon, the only states where the lease-only Fit EV was available. All-in, the company only built 1100 Fit EVs, mostly to satisfy California’s zero-emission vehicle mandate.
Honda promises a new battery-electric vehicle as well as a new plug-in hybrid by model year 2018, along with advances in its two- and three-motor hybrid systems and new innovations to boost the efficiency of conventional gas-burning powertrains. In the meantime, if you’ve just got to have a Honda EV, this silent hatchback is the perfect Fit.
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