Honda has revealed more information about its plans for future hybrid cars, announcing a timeline with several upcoming, fuel-efficient models.

In the past, the company has talked of a new “international hybrid” due out in early 2009, as well as the CR-Z hybrid sporty car due out in 2010. But little was known about the so-called “international hybrid” until now, except that logically it would probably be meant to compete with the Toyota Prius.

Honda president Takeo Fukui has revealed in a speech that the international hybrid would be reminiscent of the FCX Clarity fuel-cell model the company plans to lease to a few consumers starting this fall. The FCX Clarity is a family sedan about the size of the 2007 Honda Accord (a little smaller than the redesigned 2008 model). But the international hybrid will be a five-passenger car (rather than four in the FCX Clarity) and have a hatchback in place of the FCX’s trunk. It will not have the latest lithium-ion batteries, because Fukui says the company still considers them too expensive and risky for cars. He says Honda plans to build 200,000 of the cars worldwide, with 100,000 destined for America. Last year Toyota sold 181,000 Prius hybrids in the United States alone.

Honda also says it plans to build a hybrid-powered Fit by 2015, according to a report in Automotive News.

The company also announced the number of FCX Clarity fuel-cell cars that it will build. There will be 200, mostly for lease to consumers in Southern California. (Last fall, General Motors began loaning a fleet of its fuel-cell powered Chevrolet Equinoxes to consumers in Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and New York metropolitan areas.)

—Eric Evarts