Honda's New Hybrid - 9/8/08

The Honda Motor Company has introduced a pure hybrid called the Insight.  Honda is hoping the new hybrid will compete with the popular Toyota Prius.

The Insight will go on sale in the U.S. next spring.  Honda said the Insight will be a five seat hatchback and will be priced significantly below other hybrids on the market.  It appears this is not a modified Civic, but a hybrid built from the ground up like Toyota did with Prius.

Hybrids like the Insight and Prius uses electric motors and batteries to assist a gasoline engine in powering the car.  This is considered a serial hybrid, because the gasoline engine does not run all the time only when needed.  For instance, while stopped at a light the gas engine most likely will not be running saving fuel.

In 2007 Toyota sold over 180,000 Priuses, making it the most popular hybrid car and Toyota’s third best selling car.  Honda sold 32,500 Civics that same year.

The first hybrid sold in the U.S. was also called the Insight by Honda.  It was a two seat hybrid introduced in the U.S. in 1999.   At that time the two seat Insight had the highest fuel economy of any vehicle at 63 miles per gallon combined city and highway.  The Prius gets 46 mpg.

Honda stopped selling the two seat Insight in 2006 because customers preferred the roomier Prius and Honda Civic Hybrid.

“The original Honda Insight pioneered hybrid technology in the U.S.,” said Takeo Fukui, Honda CEO.

The new Insight will have an improved version of Honda’s Integrated Motor Assist, which was used on the Civic Hybrid and original Insight.

Honda hopes to sell 100,000 Insights in the U.S. per year.

Honda also plans to introduce a sporty hybrid in the near future.

They expect total hybrid sales of about 500,000 vehicles.  This will be 10 percent of Honda’s worldwide annual sales.

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