It Is Official: Honda Insight Hybrid To Make World Debut At NAIAS
The Honda Insight is back, this time with seating for five passengers and at a price that will seriously undercut the Toyota Prius.
The upcoming North American International Auto Show in Detroit has been in the news a lot lately,
but not simply for the reason that its start is just over a month away. The auto show has been seeing some hard times lately as a number of manufacturers have decided to pull out of the show, citing economic reasons for staying away.
Indeed, Land Rover, Rolls Royce, Ferrari, Nissan, Mitsubishi, and Suzuki are staying away, but valuable floor space will now be given to a pair of Chinese automakers, Brilliance Automotive and Changfeng Motor, who will avoid the lobby and get a main floor viewing area. Now, word is out that Honda has readied its all new Insight hybrid, and will use Detroit as the place where this important car will make its debut.
If the Insight name sounds familiar to you, it should. When it first made its debut in 1999, it was an ugly two seater that beat the Toyota Prius to the market. Unfortunately for Honda, its sales never quite measured up and was discontinued a few years later in favor of a hybridized version of the popular Honda Civic.
Yet, Honda has always felt that a fully dedicated hybrid model was still something that consumers wanted, therefore the automaker made plans to bring back the Insight, but this time as a five-passenger, five-door model which Honda says will be the most affordable hybrid car available when it goes on sale in the spring of 2009. Yes, Honda plans to undercut the Toyota Prius by some $3000 with a sticker price of under $20,000 for a car that could see fuel mileage approach 60 mpg.
According to Honda, the Insight is expected to have annual global sales of 200,000 units per year -- approximately 100,000 in North America -- and will utilize a new interactive, driver-focused fuel economy enhancement technology named the Ecological Drive Assist System (Eco Assist(TM)).
So, for all of you green car fans who have been looking for a solid, new entry to hit the market, look no further than Honda, specifically the Insight, to find a car that raises the hybrid vehicle bar a notch. Check out the North American International Auto Show in Detroit to get an up close and personal view of the car or wait until it hits a local Honda showroom or nearby auto show for your chance to test drive the car.
