Many people have misconceptions about hybrid car batteries: “You don’t want a hybrid ’cause every couple days you’ve gotta plug them in somewhere to recharge the batteries.” But interestingly enough, many hybrid car owners actually would like the ability to plug in their...

  Honda Motor Co. plans to launch a small car by 2009 that uses a new “affordable” gas-electric hybrid engine as well as diesel-powered versions of its larger vehicles as part of a strategy to improve fuel-efficiency of its U.S. models, a senior company executive said Thursday. Tetsuo Iwamura,...