TOKYO - JAPAN'S second largest automaker Honda Motor plans to accelerate the launch of new hybrid cars, seeking to adapt quickly to changing customer demands, group president Takanobu Ito said on Monday.

The company's hybrid technology, the 'Integrated Motor Assist' which was introduced in the first generation of Honda's Insight hybrids a decade ago, will also be installed in its global best-selling compact Fit car, he added.

The Fit hybrid will hit the market in October next year. But Mr Ito declined to reveal a price for the two cars, saying only that customers would find them affordable.

'With regard to four-wheeled vehicles, we would like to concentrate efforts on how to quickly expand hybrid vehicles,' Mr Ito told a small group of reporters.

'From now on, we would like to tie our business growth with our hybrid products and the global marketing of our compact cars,' he added.

Honda earlier this year rolled out a revamped model of its flagship fuel-sipping Insight, which was the best-selling hybrid in April in Japan before being overtaken by rival Toyota's remodelled Prius.

Sales of green cars have surged since April here in part due to companies slashing the price of their recent models and government tax incentives, making them the most popular vehicles.

The economic downturn has increasingly pushed customers toward affordable and fuel-efficient vehicles and has stirred up heated rivalry among carmakers, prompting Honda increasingly to focus on developing its hybrid prowess.

The maker is developing ways to adapt the same hybrid technology to mid and larger-sized vehicles with two electric motors instead of one so as to improve mileage, Mr Ito said. But he refused to say when the new cars would be ready.