Now you’d think, that in these times of high gas prices, if you’re sitting pretty with a vehicle in your showrooms which is practical, reliable, and gets a combined EPA mileage figure of over 30 miles per gallo—you’d think you’d keep that research and development money in the bank and just keep sellin’ cars. Why waste that hard-earned stockholders’ cash on new models when you’re already selling everything you can build?

2009 Honda Fit

I guess that’s not how Honda got to be where it is today. Although a few times over the past couple of years I’ve wondered to myself just where they were going—I mean, that Ridgeline “pickup”? Yuk. And the Odyssey “mini”-van just keeps getting bigger and bigger just like—well, just like practically every new incarnation of every American vehicle for the past 60 years. Seeing how that’s turned out, I’m not sure Honda should stay that course.

Once known only for their motorcycles and scooters, 45 years or so ago Honda decided to get into the car business. Small, clever cars, of course. The 1965 S600 was a two-seat sportscar which made even the smallest American car look huge. Not many made it to America though. The Civic, born in 1973, is probably the first four-wheeled Honda that most Americans remember. It came along at just the right time, as we were in the throes of an OPEC oil embargo and President Nixon’s odd/even gas-rationing plan. Much like now, big American cars such as the Ford Galaxie and Chevy Impala sat on lots as people scooped up—are you ready for this?—Pintos and Vegas to help save a few bucks on gas. If only their crystal balls would have shown they’d more than make up for their gas savings in repairs and the rapid depreciation of these dreadful little cars. Live and learn.

Getting back to the present, the Honda Fit, which is sold as the Jazz in Europe and a few other Old World countries, was introduced in 2001; which, you will recall, was before 9/11, before Katrina, and before whatever the hell it is that made gas prices spike to over four bucks a gallon. Was Honda that smart that they knew way back then that we’d need something like the Fit in North America one of these days? No, silly. Everyone’s been making small cars in Japan for decades. There’s no room for anything else. Space is at such a premium in Tokyo that before you can buy a car you have to prove you have a place to park it! There was a photo in one of the car magazines a few years back which showed some guy’s parking spot: The car just fit in there (with the mirrors folded in) and to get in and out he had to use the rear hatch. Now that’s tight! Honda decided to bring the Fit to North America at just about the same time Toyota was sending us the Echo (now called Yaris), and BMW began producing the new MINI. Although the three are similar in size they are quite different. The MINI is cute and trendy; the Yaris is small and, at least in the hatchback guise, rather odd-looking; while the Fit is more of a mini station wagon, or MPV as they say in Europe.

The new 2009 Fit, which will go on sale in the fall, has been redesigned (although you’d be hard-pressed to tell the difference from a block away). It seems as though more dough has been spent on making the Fit more of a value (the 2008 started at $13,950—no word yet on the 2009 pricing). New features include improved suspension, easier folding rear seats, better visibility through new window design, and a new 1.5-liter engine.

And they’ll probably sell everyone they can build. Still.