Honda Aims to 'Mainstream' Hybrids with Coming Insight
October 03, 2008
By Bill Visnic
PARIS - Honda Motor Co. Ltd. is taking the hybrid fight directly to chief rival Toyota Motor Corp. when it launches its all-new Insight hybrid-electric car in April: the Insight will be "substantially" less expensive than any other hybrid currently sold in the U.S. - including Toyota's market-dominating Prius and Honda's own Civic Hybrid.
Calling the original Insight - a quirkily styled, limited-purpose two-seater - a pioneer that introduced hybrid-electric technology to the U.S., Honda CEO Takeo Fukui said at the introduction of the near-production Insight concept at the Paris auto show that the new Insight "will also be our pioneer to take hybrid technology into a new era of affordability." The best development and sales path for hybrids, he added, is to make them affordable enough that hybrids are attainable by "mainstream customers."
The only reason Honda officials will not commit to claiming the Insight will be the cheapest hybrid on sale in the U.S.: the conservative company effectively is saying anything could happen between now and April.
But it appears all but assured the Insight will be the least-expensive hybrid money can buy. Although appearing larger than the Civic thanks to its hatchback styling, the Insight is dimensionally smaller, says a Honda source, as well as lighter - although Honda won't yet specify by how much.
Fuel economy? Somewhere close to the Civic hybrid, which currently is rated at around 40
mpg in the city and 45 mpg on the highway. A Honda source tells AutoObserver
the Insight will use a "new technology" of interaction with the driver to provide information that helps to maximize fuel-efficient driving.
The Insight's batteries are conventional nickel-metal hydride chemistry, not the more energy-dense (and more expensive) lithium-ion batteries being developed for General Motors Corp.'s Chevrolet Volt and plug-in hybrids that are planned to travel long distances solely on electric power.
Fukui and other Honda officials are circumspect about details, but Fukui says the Insight's latest version of Honda's Integrated Motor Assist hybrid system has been reduced in size and weight - and cost. The car remains, in effect, a "mild" hybrid in that the gasoline engine almost always runs and the car rarely travels only on electric power. Instead, the IMA components are used to boost the torque of the car's 1.3-liter 4-cylinder engine when necessary and recover some of the energy normal vehicles throw away when coasting and braking.
For now, the Insight will be built in Japan. Honda talks of 200,000 units in the first full year, with half that production earmarked for the U.S.
Fukui says at the company's press conference here that when the Insight and Civic Hybrid are joined by a production version of the sporty CR-Z hybrid concept and a coming hybrid version of the all-new Jazz subcompact Honda also unveiled here, the company will be producing some half-million hybrids annually.
Fukui said the production version of the Insight will be shown at the Detroit auto show in January.
Photos by Honda
1 - Honda CEO Takeo Fukui unveils the Honda Insight concept at the Paris motor show.
2 - Honda Insight
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