Honda dealers claimed that a Ridgeline Hybrid would soon be available, but the automaker denied this information.
This shocking news story will take you into the weekend. A Honda dealer in Louisiana posted a “coming soon” message on its website about a hybrid version the Ridgelinepickup trucks. A Reddit thread referred us to Honda of Covington. The page has since been taken down. Officials at Honda were contacted about this matter. However, the page is no longer available. This suggests that the dealer made a huge mistake or misunderstood its information. We’ll get to that later.
These Ridgelines are Real
had a lot of information before the page was darkened. According to some reports, the Ridgeline Hybrid will be available in 2020. It could feature Honda’s two motor system and a 2.0-liter four cylinder engine. It’s the same configuration as the Accord. The hybrid produces 212 horsepower (158 kilowatts) which helps the sedan reach an EPA-rated 47 mpg. The Ridgeline will be getting a styling update for 2017, which was introduced in its current form for 2017.
The Ridgeline’s current engine is a 3.5-liter V6 that produces a modest 280 horsepower (209 hp). A hybrid setup would be a significant step down in terms of performance. This seems like an odd move by Honda, even though the Ridgeline is a different offering in the half ton truck segment.
Our suspicions proved correct. Honda of Covington posted the post about this hybrid and we contacted them directly. A spokesperson confirmed that the information was incorrect. However, this doesn’t answer the question as to why the hybrid was put up in the first instance. It is possible that the dealership mistook Ridgeline for CRV. This new hybrid powertrain was announced just a few weeks back and will technically be available soon. Although it seems absurd that a Honda dealership would make such a mistake, they do make mistakes.
Details on the 2020 Honda CR-V Hybrid
Another possibility is that Ridgeline Hybrid has been in development, but with a new (and possibly more powerful) powertrain. This truck is likely to be in the future, since we are only a few months away from 2020. We haven’t yet seen any Ridgeline prototypes camouflaged to indicate that something new was on the horizon.