Like shooting fish in a barrel this one. I mean, what insight does the Insight show, other than “Build me a Prius knock-off, quick!” Still, Honda bloody well went and did it (unlike every other automakers we could name). So what else did we learn? Not a lot really. Honda’s still using their Integrated Motor Assist™ (IMA™) hybrid technology, which yields its mpg benefits by downsizing the internal combustion engine. Honda’s still planning on under-cutting the Prius’ price to knock-out 200k units (100k in the U.S.). We can also guess that the production car may not be nearly so blingy in the lighting department. And we can hope that its gaping maw is not strictly necessary for cooling or some such thing. As for the all-important mpgs… nothing yet.
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funny, it looks like a Chevy Volt–if it were designed with correct proportions and consistency.
Looks like a manta ray swimming with it’s mouth open. Maybe it sucks in bugs and burns them for fuel.
Yes, the overall shape looks like the Prinus — that’s what happens when you favor aerodynamic efficiency over “style.” But it has better dimensions, looking wider and lower than the tall, skinny Toyota.
In one sense, the Insight will be the first economical hybrid, in that it will be inexpensive to buy AND inexpensive to run. I think that’s pretty cool.
Sure it’s derivative. However, if the new Insight maintains Honda’s typical characteristics it will be a more interesting driving experience than the utterly numb and utilitarian Prius. That’s worth something. As for the styling, it’s not as bad as some other recent Honda products. How’s that for an endorsement?
the face looks like a fish. other than that it’s decent looking by today’s standards, though not nearly as good looking as the FCX Clarity. I wish they’d have steeper windshields. Those shallow ones are solar collectors in the summer, snow collectors in the winter, and very hard to see through when dirty or pitted.
Wow, Honda calls it’s second generation hybrid specific vehicle the … Insight. They used the same name as their first pure hybrid vehicle. Didn’t anyone from Marketing Consulting Inc. tell them to get rid of any name associated with a prior product. Oh, wait, Honda doesn’t hire those guys and gals.
If this vehicle comes close to Prius fuel economy numbers it will be a big seller. Period.
Squint and you’ll see the letters ‘C-R-V’ in that front end.
It’s easy to predict that Honda will be racking up actual retail sales of the new Insight while GM is still busy touting website hits for the Volt.
If this looks better to you than the Volt, then you’ve been drinking the Kool-Aid.
Honda plans to sell 100k of these a year in the US and GM has what 8 hybrids on the market right now selling how many a year under 20,000 or something. Doesn’t Ford sell more Escape/Mariner hybrids than GM sells of all their hybrids combined. They should have stuck with the hybrids are a fad and put that money into a better Cobalt, Aveo or executive bonuses.
I’m amazed how something that looks almost exactly like the Prius actually looks the better. But it’s weird that they built a better looking Prius than Toyota, instead of coming up with something on their own, or at least something different. I mean, what’s the point? And don’t give me that “It looks like that for a reason”. No, they obviously tapped into the Prius hype, in hope of stealing some sales. The Prius is designed to look dorky, like the old myth about how nobody would buy a vacuum cleaner if it was completely silent, as people would think it didn’t work.
tigeraid :
October 2nd, 2008 at 9:09 am
funny, it looks like a Chevy Volt–if it were designed with correct proportions and consistency.
zOMG. The only thing “consistent” with this design is that it’s consistently lifted from Toyota. Chevy’s was “from-scratch” effort. This looks like they took what was out there and added an ugly Honda grille.
When I hear people complain about the Prius-like cabin area I’m reminded of looking at a cross section of an aircraft’s wing – most are almost all the same shape for aerodynamic purposes (not just lift, but because it cuts through the air with the most efficiency).
MPG slightly less than current Prius, initial cost about $20k. Per autonews.com:
The revived Insight will cost about $3,000 less than the Civic Hybrid, thanks to cost cuts in its battery, motor and electronic control unit.
“I want to bring it down to the range of 2 million yen ($18,864),” [Honda President Takeo] Fukui said in a videoconference with Tokyo reporters. Its fuel economy will mirror the Civic Hybrid’s, at 40 mpg city/45 highway.
The Boeing X-32-ish maw (nicknamed Monica) is also on the FCX Clarity and the upcoming JDM Odyssey. Looks like it’s Honda’s new corporate grille, at least for cars.
It’s like Deja-vu all over again.
I like how people can use a thread about a Toyota-looking Honda to bash General Motors. It takes a certain skill to do that, I’m sure.
I like the look of this better than the Prius solely for the fact that the wheels look “right sized.” On the Prius, the wheels look like they’re too tiny for that sized body. Makes the whole car look dorky. This one looks better.
And if y’all don’t remember, Honda and Toyota got their start over here copying American designs. Honda’s copy+paste design department has a lot of experience. Why not use it when you need it? Nothing wrong with making money. GM should try it sometime.
Looks like a better looking prius to me. I don’t know if that’s such a good thing, but I have no doubt that this will sell like hotcakes. Oh yeah, GM sucks… just thought I’d throw that in there.
Get used to the profile: ALL high mileage cars have that profile, its a natural function of aerodynamics. The original insight had a similar profile but was a 3 door.
Thus the details are what counts for the looks: headlights, taillights, maw, and IMO the honda looks far better.
It also means that you WANT to do it as a hatch: you end up having such a short trunk-lid that its almost impossible to use (see: Volt).
You want beautiful, buy Italian. Most Japanese cars range between functional and weird in the aesthetics department. It is OK. Build quality, reliability, and driveability are their value propositions. And it WORKS!
All that said, if Honda can produce a Prius sized, hybrid that retails for 10% than the Prius, they will sell a lot of them. So what if the Prius gets better mileage? The real point is to tell your neighbors who you are. Only 0.1% of the populations knows what the difference between serial and parallel hybrids is. If the Insight looks like a hybrid and gets them into the HOV lane, it works.
One other thing, I’d expect the MPG to be down maby 1 or 2 MPG on the prius:
The Honda model is simpler than the prius in one important respect. Both are full hybrids (able to be on the electric motor as well as gas/electric hybrid).
But Honda’s IMA system has a cute cost-cutting trick: Rather than having a clutch between the gas and electric motors, Honda maintains a direct connection at all times. Instead, there is one more additional VTEC cam profile (three profiles instead of two): “No Valves Open”.
Thus in pure electric mode, the pistons are still moving up and down, but the drag is minimized because its not moving air through the engine.
It looks like a cross between the FCX Clarity and the old CRX. Honda came up with that rear end up concept years before Toyota did!
And yeah, it does look better. More horizontal, fewer vertical features than the Toyota, none of Toyota’s customary blobbiness or funky snouts. More of the Civic’s dolphin-like shape, which is apt for this application.
But why are we saying that Honda’s revealed it if this is the same concept car we’ve already seen? We can expect normal headlights, smaller wheels (with a better design I hope), and a higher ride height.
Give it Prius like MPG’s, lower & wider stance than a Prius and tighter suspension than a Prius and I’ll buy one. I also wouldn’t mind a more traditional dahsboard, but beggars can’t be choosers, right?
Please Honda, give me more than just MPG’s, i.e. why I dislike the Prius. Minivans have more driving dynamics than the Prius. I want a real honest to god fuel sipper with a suspension that makes up for the lack of raw horsepower.
As for the look, it’s a by product of spending too much design time in wind tunnel testing…or copying Toyota after they spent the time there. Doesn’t bother me. People already menioned what makes the Prius dorky looking. However Prius drivers are a cult stronger than VW reliability deniers that are completely blinded by it’s obvious failings.
Back when these pictures were first released, another TTAC reader pointed out the smaller rear wheels. This particuliar perspective hides it somewhat but a rear perspective might accentuate it. After looking at it a bit, the relative rear wheel size reminds me of the arms of a T-rex.
netrun :
And if y’all don’t remember, Honda and Toyota got their start over here copying American designs. Honda’s copy+paste design department has a lot of experience.
Huh? In the 1970s, the little RWD coupes from Toyota and Nissan stole US design (my ’73 Corolla had a 5/8 scale Ford “Nine-inch” rear axle), but any designs Honda stole came from Europe:
What two box, front wheel drive cars were coming out of Detroit when the Civic debuted in 1973? Toyota didn’t go to FWD until the early eighties (and started with the Starlet, not their mainstream product), but Honda launched their car line with innovative, FWD product.
I agree Honda is much more conservative today, but the company also sells more cars to a wider audience. Perhaps that’s the price of success.
Redbarchetta :
October 2nd, 2008 at 10:40 am
Honda plans to sell 100k of these a year in the US and GM has what 8 hybrids on the market right now selling how many a year under 20,000 or something. Doesn’t Ford sell more Escape/Mariner hybrids than GM sells of all their hybrids combined. They should have stuck with the hybrids are a fad and put that money into a better Cobalt, Aveo or executive bonuses.
Hybrid sales January through August (that is, eight months’ worth):
GM’s 6 hybrids: 5,848
Ford’s 2 hybrids: 14,025
Nissan Altima Hybrid: 6,732
Honda’s 2 hybrids: 25,773 (25,577 for the Civic alone)
Toyota’s 6 hybrids: 182,868 (119,688 for the Prius alone-the hybrid versions of the Highlander, RX400h, and Camry also all sold over 10,000 units each)
http://www.hybridcars.com/market-dashboard/august-2008-dashboard-undersupply-and-discouraged-buyers-24953.html
There’s a boatload of fail for GM here, and lots of missed opportunities for Honda and Ford.
Geotpf :
October 2nd, 2008 at 1:13 pm
Redbarchetta :
October 2nd, 2008 at 10:40 am
Honda plans to sell 100k of these a year in the US and GM has what 8 hybrids on the market right now selling how many a year under 20,000 or something. Doesn’t Ford sell more Escape/Mariner hybrids than GM sells of all their hybrids combined. They should have stuck with the hybrids are a fad and put that money into a better Cobalt, Aveo or executive bonuses.
Hybrid sales January through August (that is, eight months’ worth):
GM’s 6 hybrids: 5,848
Ford’s 2 hybrids: 14,025
Nissan Altima Hybrid: 6,732
Honda’s 2 hybrids: 25,773 (25,577 for the Civic alone)
Toyota’s 6 hybrids: 182,868 (119,688 for the Prius alone-the hybrid versions of the Highlander, RX400h, and Camry also all sold over 10,000 units each)
http://www.hybridcars.com/market-dashboard/august-2008-dashboard-undersupply-and-discouraged-buyers-24953.html
There’s a boatload of fail for GM here, and lots of missed opportunities for Honda and Ford.
Volkswagen/Audi: 0
Hyundai: 0
Mazda: 0 (unless you count the rebadged Escape)
Mitsubishi: 0
Subaru: 0
Mercedes-Benz: 0
BMW: 0
Suzuki: 0
If GM had a boatload a fail, so be it. But they made a pretty huge investment so far, and considering they didn’t just license it from Toyota (as did Nissan), they came up with an advanced and capable system. These other guys didn’t even show up to the battle.