Does Honda know that many thousands of people are patiently waiting for them to announce their first hybrid SUV? Way back in September of 2007 we reported that the most popular green sport utility search was “honda hybrid suv” - ahead of Toyota, Lexus, Ford, and Saturn - despite the fact that little to no mention of one had ever been made by Honda Motors.

Fast forward nearly 18 months and not much has changed. Even as Chevrolet, GMC, Dodge, Chrysler, Mercury, Mazda, and Cadillac have joined the previously mentioned manufacturers in offering SUV hybrids, Honda continues to be the most searched and presumably the most sought after eco-friendly sport ute.

From a historical standpoint, Honda was the first auto manufacturer to bring a gas-electric vehicle to the American market when they launched the original Honda Insight in December of 1999. Roughly 2 years later they followed that car up by hybridizing their highly successful Civic, and in 2005 they released the Honda Accord hybrid which was discontinued after three years. Most recently, Honda announced that they would re-introduce an all new, 2010 Insight.

Along the way, Honda has offered numerous press releases about their hybrid and alternative fuel vehicle plans, none of which have mentioned a hybrid Pilot, CRV, Element, or prototype/concept SUV. It seems that Honda’s green blueprint is to mainly stick with what made them so successful from the start - affordable, fuel efficient sedans. Even while SUVs dominated the U.S. market for several years, Honda stayed the course and didn’t jump on the gas guzzling V8 wagon. That wisdom seems to be paying off today, even with fuel prices holding below $2 per gallon.

Honda has announced that in addition to the upcoming Insight, more hybrids are on the way. With the Insight and hybrid Civic more than adequately covering the small to mid-sized sedan market, and the Accord hybrid no longer available, it’s easy to see why people are still watching for news of a hybrid CR-V or hybrid Pilot. And while the Pilot might be an obvious choice to compete with rival Toyota and their green Highlander, a more realistic option would be the smaller CRV, originally built on the Civic platform (the Civic hybrid remains the most successful gas-electric from Honda to date).

At the same time, many experts have attributed much of Toyota Prius’ success to the fact that it isn’t available in any version other than hybrid, an attribute it shares with the Insight. If we do someday get a Honda hybrid SUV, I hope the name is unique. The name Honda Green is still not taken, so what do you think?