Honda Motor Co will manufacture and sell a new sport utility-type truck, a cross between a pickup truck and a sport utility vehicle (SUV), in the United States starting in the second half of next year, according to AFX Newswire. The hybrid vehicle appears aimed at appealing simultaneously to the two fast-growing segments of the U.S. market -- the markets for trucks and SUVs -- and poses a new challenge to America's beleaguered automakers, whose dominance of the domestic truck market is already under threat from other Japanese competitors, according to AFX. Toyota Motor Corp., reputed to be the world's most efficient automaker, already sells the Tundra pickup truck in the U.S., and this month Nissan Motor Co. began selling the Titan. Because of their heavy reliance on profits earned on truck sales, auto industry analysts have warned that the Big Three U.S. automakers -- General Motors, Ford and the Chrysler division of DaimlerChrysler -- face a serious threat from the new Japanese-made products, according to AFX.
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