Honda plans to bring the Insight hybrid to the United States at a price point under $20,000 and is open to building the vehicle in America if annual sales reach the ambitious target level of 100,000 a year.

As the yen surges against the dollar, however, striking the $20,000 sticker price will be hard. Set to go head-to-head with the Toyota Prius, the five-passenger gasoline-electric Insight will be entering a market where hybrid sales have dropped 9.9 percent from 2007 to 2008.

If Honda is able to meet its price point, the Insight could fare well against the Prius which has an opening price in the American market of $22,000.

Representing just 2.4 percent of the total vehicle market, the popularity of hybrids tends to be at the whim of current gasoline prices. At $4 a gallon they were wildly desirable; at $1.85 the expensive but efficient cars felt the pinch of the economic downturn.

As for moving construction of Honda hybrids off the Japanese islands, the matter may prove difficult as assembly requires special parts, in particular batteries, that come from Japanese suppliers.

If such a move is made, however, the first hybrid to be built outside Japan would likely be the Civic Hybrid since the base Civic model is already constructed in other countries.