TRAVERSE CITY, Michigan - Honda's new Toyota Prius fighter, an unnamed compact five-door hatchback, will be priced below the current Honda Civic hybrid, said a top Honda executive on Wednesday.

Richard Colliver, executive vice president of American Honda Motor, told an industry seminar here that the Honda hybrid will be launched in spring 2009, priced lower than the $22,600 Honda Civic hybrid, according to the Associated Press. The Toyota Prius has a base price of $21,500.

The small hybrid is one of four new gas-electric models that Honda plans to roll out over the next four years, as part of a broad global strategy to boost hybrid sales to 500,000 units by 2012. The vehicle will be Honda's first dedicated hybrid since the Insight and is known inside the company as the New Dedicated Hybrid Vehicle or 'small hybrid.'