Honda Stabs At Toyota with New Prius Rival
September 04, 2008
Honda Motor Co. Ltd.'s made it official, showing today an image of the all-new Insight, a hybrid-electric vehicle that, while carrying the same name as the company's first-ever production hybrid (1999), is an entirely different vehicle.
The new Insight is not a 2-door commuter car; instead, it is a 5-door hatchback that Honda says will use a less-costly version of the company's Integrated Motor Assist system to help markedly undercut the price of the market-dominating Toyota Prius. Honda says the new-generation Insight will debut at the Paris International Auto Show on Oct. 2 - and be on sale in the U.S. next spring.
The car will be built at Honda's Suzuka, Japan, assembly plant, and Honda projects sales of 200,000 units annually, half of which are earmarked for North America. The new Insight reputedly will be positioned lower than the existing Civic Hybrid, and will be part of a multi-vehicle hybrid strategy Honda proposes to combat rival Toyota, whose name is becoming synonymous with hybrid technology.
Posted by Bill Visnic at 1:17 PM under Business , News , Technology | Comments (1) | digg this | Seed Newsvine
Wow! Another derivative design from Japan, this time one Japanese company copying another. I guess one can understand why, since Prius set the standard on Hybrids, but how do their design guys face themselves each morning in the mirror?
Posted by: rlsedition | September 05, 2008 at 9:59 AM