When the current generation Honda Insight was introduced in March 2009 as a 2010 model it was hailed as a “Toyota Prius fighter.” Making the best use of the most cost-effective Honda hybrid technology, the Insight was touted as a 40-mpg-plus compact car for less than $20,000 – a figure designed to undercut the least
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Today Honda Motor Company announced it will release refreshed Insight hybrids including a somewhat more upscale version with larger engine to the Japanese market. The 1.3-liter 40-plus mpg version will be joined by a 1.5-liter model Honda is calling the Insight Exclusive, and the company says dealers will get them Nov. 11. No word was
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Honda has announced several small but noticeable tweaks for the 2012 editions of its Insight hybrid. Combined fuel economy for the hatchback will increase to 44 mpg, 1 mpg more than the current model. The exterior will be updated with new front and rear bumper styling and a slightly refined grille, contributing to a 2-percent
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Honda President Takanobu Ito says around 10 percent of Honda’s global sales will be hybrids by 2015, and all of its models are built with the ability to quickly adapt into hybrids. In a Dec. 6 article, Automotive News primarily focused on how Kohei Hitomi, chief engineer of the Honda Fit, was asked by Honda’s
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Honda announced today that it is going to offer a new, 2011 “value-oriented base model” of the Honda Insight hybrid starting at $18,200, plus destination charge of $750. That’s $1,600 less than the current lowest-priced 2010 Insight, the LX. The new value base Insight model, which goes on sale today, is rated with the same
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Honda will dedicate its Yorii factory, north of Tokyo, to producing hybrid SUVs and minivans—instead of making clean diesel vehicles or micro-cars as previously announced. Nikkei is reporting that the Yorii factory will begin production in 2013. Specific models to be produced have not been announced. In February, we reported that Honda is developing a
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Takanobu Ito, Honda’s president, said last week that the company has grown “complacent,” and specifically pointed to its poor performance with hybrids as a key sign of the problem. To correct the situation, Ito is pushing his engineers to have the next-generation Honda Insight beat the Toyota Prius’s fuel economy numbers—and to deliver it as
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Consumer Reports yesterday named the 2010 Toyota Prius the best new-car value for the year. On top of that, Toyota is offering unprecedented deals on the Prius. In an unexpected turn of events, Toyota’s safety recalls could create a jump in hybrid sales. To counteract the effects of negative publicity, Toyota is offering a sale
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Honda is developing a hybrid system suitable for larger cars such as the Odyssey minivan the Pilot sports utility vehicle. Tomohiko Kawanabe, Honda’s chief operating officer for automobile research and development, today told Reuters, “We’ve left the research stage and entered the field of development.” Kawanabe said these vehicles could hit the US market in
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Consumer Reports released results from its annual car reliability survey, and the 2010 Honda Insight scored the highest of any vehicle in predicted reliability. Hybrids dominated the list for reliability—with five of the eight most reliable family cars: Toyota Prius, Ford Fusion Hybrid, Mercury Milan Hybrid, Nissan Altima Hybrid, and Toyota Camry Hybrid. Among all
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