Honda Motor Co. wants to remind the world that hybrid means more than the Prius.
Japan's third-largest carmaker last month started selling a new version of its Fit compact at home, including a hybrid designed to take on Toyota Motor Corp.'s global dominance in sales of fuel-efficient cars.
Honda says the Fit hybrid gives better mileage and costs less than the Toyota Aqua, a smaller take on the Prius that's known as the Prius c in the U.S. In the first four weeks, sales and advance orders reached 62,000 units — four times Honda's forecast, with about 70 percent of them hybrids.