New Honda Insight Already Beating Expectations

by Benjamin Jones on February 24, 2009

Honda Insight Hybrid

We’ve talked about the new Honda Insight Hybrid and Honda’s high hopes that this car will become a Prius-killer before, and the dream is starting to seem a little more like reality.

According to ABG, Honda wanted to move about 5,000 units weekly to meet the sales goals for the Insight. The car hasn’t been on sale long, but according to Honda they’re already ahead of the game, with more than 5,000 advance orders pouring in for the second generation of the famous hybrid electric vehicle.

Truth be told, this does sound like a bit too much PR. The Insight isn’t on sale worldwide yet, and those preorders could’ve come in over any number of months. It’s likely that the Insight will have a lot of initial excitement, but then, like most other cars, fall victim to the slowdown in the global car market.

However, only time will tell. Now that the final version of both the new generation of Prius and Insight are out, which one do you think will take the cake?

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{ 1 comment }

1 pianoguy February 27, 2009 at 12:03 pm

It will depend entirely on the new Prius’ as-yet unreleased price. It’s clearly the more interesting design (okay – to me, anyway), and if Toyota is telling the truth about its being cheaper to produce than the 2G Prius, then it could end up being even more successful than its predecessor.

Rhetorical question regarding the 3G Prius: How many other new models for 2010 are going to offer improved fuel economy, better performance, and more interior space than their predecessor, at roughly equivalent price? A lot of Prius people are disappointed in the 3G specs – especially the mere 8% improvement in fuel economy – but this Prius will be a practical choice for more car-buyers than ever. That Toyota has accomplished this without a breakthrough in battery technology makes the engineering even more impressive.

But the 3G Prius will never have a cult following like the 2G, unless Toyota is quick to the market with plug-in capability.

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