Honda Insight hybrid car
September 5, 2008 by Alborz Fallah
It’s 2008 and automanufacturers can’t seem to stop talking about hybrid technology. Toyota, the company inarguably credited with bringing hybrid cars to the masses has more to worry about today with arch rival Honda announcing the highly anticipated Prius fighter will be called ‘Honda Insight’.
The Insight badge has already been used previously as a two-seater (pictured below), but it failed miserably with only 17,000 units sold from 1999-2006. In which time Toyota sold close to 1 million Prius cars.
However Honda Motor Co. is not deterred by the first-generation’s set backs. The new insight will be a five-door, five-passenger hatchback, much like the Prius.
The Japanese company announced today that it will show-off a a concept version of the new Insight at the Paris auto show next month. With sales starting in the United States by April next year.
“The name Insight was chosen to denote Honda’s ‘insight’ into a new era in which hybrid vehicles come within reach of most car buyers,” Honda said in a press release.
Unlike the first generation, this time around Honda plans to sell at least 200,000 of the vehicles worldwide annually. Although it expects that half of the allocation will be for North America.
The Insight is a little different to the Prius however, with the battery and control unit located beneath the cargo space. Meanwhile power is generated primarily from the petrol engine with help from the electric motor coming only when extra power is needed, such as during passing, starting and accelerating.
Honda says the Insight is slightly smaller and lighter than the Civic hybrid. It will also be cheaper than both the Prius and Civic Hybrid making it a potential winner in the current fuel-crisis climate.
“Thanks to reductions in the weight and size of the Insight’s key components, Honda has also achieved significant cost reductions,” the automaker said.
Nonetheless the Insight is the first of many new hybrids expected from Honda. There will be a new sporty hybrid called CR-Z (think CR-X) plus a new generation of the Civic Hybrid and even a hybrid Jazz.
Honda Australia has been contacted for comment. Check back later in the day for an update.
Print it: 
****PRIMO!****
Australia has the solution to raped fuel costs…
L P G
At least Howard saw it, pitty about Dudd
Cheers
F-0
FO, you’re becoming more idiotic every day.
Howard drove all LPG installers out of business by announcing the excise would be levied on LPG fuel some years ago.
Finally the dictator was convinced that was stupid, and both delayed the excess and introduced the handout of $2000, which would have been better going to pensioners.
I can’t understand why the Honda insight didn’t sell – it had such cute, practical styling, after all……..
The new one looks like a complete copy of the Prius.
Why does new technology have to be wrapped in an ugly cloak? Is it because the greenies have zero taste?
Wow. That looks really quite good! Way better than a Prius. If I wanted a hybrid (which I dont) I would get one of these over a Prius anyday! Its almost (dare I say it) desirable! Well done Honda but Id prefer to see Hydrogen become more common than see more Hybrids on the road.
It only looks like a prius in profile, which has been said many times before is the most aerodynamic shape. I think it looks great and from what ive heard about pricing its gonna be great value (though i bet australia gets it at an inflated price)
to the people that keep on saying that it looks like a prius i say the prius looks like this the insight was first to the market and had this shape and toyota copied them.Also i like the resemblacnce between the insight 1 and insight 2 mainly the tailights.
Settle down chaps.
First Insight didn’t sell because it had only 2 seats – it was nothing but an experiment to prove how economical a road-registerable and reasonably drivable car could be, with little emphasis on practicality. New one will be a hit, as long as it’s 70% of Prius price (and it should be).
F_O. Get over your fixation with LPG. It’s only cost-effective when there’s no tax on it. You only get about two thirds the energy of petrol, so you use about 50% more to go the same distance. Price it on an equal basis, then do the sums again.
So much better looking than the Prius, although whether it’s a car worth buying or not is still too early to say.
If it can better Civic hybrid’s real world fuel consumption, and be cheaper it will be a real winner. We’ll be talking about less than $30k if it’s cheaper than Civic hybrid, which means lower premium compared to normal Civic for hybrid technology, therefore a faster break even in the fuel saving.
They should put a turbo diesel engine in one of these if they want to really stir the beehive.
At least the car will then have ample pulling power, and even further increases in fuel economy.
It’s still no concrete answer to the peak oil issue. But at least it’s a step in some direction.
SteveC
The car looks quite nice from the view of the front quarter. Shame that the rear roofline looks oh-so-Prius, i.e very bland, but I guess it’s needed for the aerodynamics. Definitely would consider buying this car if priced below $30,000
Specs will be the big issue: fuel consumption, CO_2 emissions. I’m looking forward to detailed road tests (probably some time in 2009).
Hydrogen is unlikely to become a common fuel on the roads. On a weight basis, its energy density is great but on a volume basis, even heavily compressed, it’s terrible. The Honda Clarity has a 171 litre tank to give it a decent range, helped by the fact that it’s a hybrid (you can’t recharge a fuel cell electrically, so regenerative braking charges a separate battery). Better batteries will kill the prospects of hydrogen cars. Hydrogen is more of an option for buses or ships where space is less of an issue.
Sorry people it uses more fuel than the Honda Civic hybrid which uses more fuel than the Prius acording to the US EPA tests. It’s also slower from 0 to 100 than the Prius. Wait till you see a new Prius in the sheet metal, it looks much better than the current Prius, has about 10% more power and about 10% better economy than the current Prius. Yes I have seen it, I was invited by Toyota to Detroit to see the reveal of the new Prius which we will see at the Melbourne Motor Show this weekend. I’m driving from Adelaide to see what we will get in Australia in the new Prius, then I may well order myself a new Prius.
I don’t work for Toyota or have any obligation to Toyota.
The Honda looks better in the star trek style hybrid genre, rarely does Toyota design cars which evoke a sense of attractiveness (excluding the Supra and IS200).
It’d be wonderfull if it came in at less than 30k. But it wont – the demand overseas is already sky high – best selling car in Japan…