The all-new Honda Insight has recently gone on sale, and has already met huge demand and positive editorial coverage.
But despite the demand for the Insight, which officially is the most
affordable hybrid in the U.S., Honda struggles to boost production to
meet the lofty sales projections.
In Japan, sales of the Insight have already tripped what Honda had originally projected, causing concern among San Francisco Honda dealers
that a similar scenario will also occur here in the U.S. At the moment,
Honda is only capable of manufacturing a reported 600 new Insight
models in a single day at the company’s Suzuka plant in Japan.
Unfortunately with demand skyrocketing at home and in North American, Gardena Honda dealers believe that plant is at near capacity.
The obvious solution to the production strain will be to move
production facilities to the U.S. Considering most Insights are
destined for the U.S., Honda Longview Texas
says it makes perfect sense that facilities are established closer to
their ultimate destination. Unfortunately, new facilities will not come
anytime soon. One problem is that more affordable components are
sourced from Japan, while the automaker also has concerns with
developing human resources for such facilities.
In the near-term, Honda is ramping up production further at its
current facilities, boosting production from 200,000 units per years to
250,000 units. This may help somewhat according to Honda Philadelphia,
but with intense demand for the affordable hybrid it may not be able to
appease eager buyers. This is especially concerning considering that
the third generation Prius is also arriving in Toyota showrooms. To
make matters worse, Toyota is also reportedly working on a less
expensive Yaris-based hybrid
to compete directly with the Insight in terms of price. If Honda
doesn’t act fast, competition and production limitations could cool
demand for the hot new insight.
Joe Kent is a writer for TK Carsites, an automotive website design and marketing firm in Orange, CA, that specializes in working with car dealers nationwide.
