As JPCN reported back in March, Winding Road’s own insider at Honda HQ said that a CRX revival was under consideration. Now, WR reports that Honda bigwigs have decided that the new CRX will be a hybrid and bear no resemblance to the Small Hybrid Sports Concept or Remix concept.

The decision to hybrid-ise the CRX has pushed the projected launch date from 2009 to 2011, while a concept of the car may make an appearance at the Tokyo Auto Show in October.

JPCN can understand the rationale behind giving the CRX a hybrid powerplant. The original CRX suffered from a chronic lack of low-down torque and thus had to be revved hard to make speedy progress. Electric motors produce 100 per cent of their torque output at 0rpm, so mating electic power with a small, revvy engine should endow the new CRX with a more flexible powertrain.

However, what made the original CRX so fun to drive was the fact you had to drive it hard, usually in second gear, so a hybrid engine with its low-down tractability may take all the fun out of the CRX experience.

Commentary already indicates that fans of the old CRX aren’t at all happy about the move to hybrid power, but what do you think? JPCN is just praying it won’t turn into another Prius.

[Source: Winding Road]
[Images courtesy of Auto Express, Honda]