Honda Insight Launches To A Resounding Success

The Honda Motor Company launched its all new Insight hybrid vehicle in February, seeing demand in its home market of Japan surge. Launched at about the same time in the US, the Insight has proven to be a popular model in America, so much so that Honda is having difficulty keeping up with demand.

Like the Big Three and also like its main Japanese competitors, Nissan and Toyota, Honda has been hit hard over the past several months by a huge decline in sales, particularly in the United States. A deep recession, consumer credit woes and a lackluster market has taken its toll on Honda, but the Insight is helping to stem the flood of bad news for the automaker.

No hard data has been made available yet, but the Honda Insight will likely take the edge off of a projected March 2009 sales drop, offering a strong ray of hope for the automaker. Going forward, the Insight is likely to play an important role in the company's success, with eventual US production put in place to help keep up with demand.

At present, the Insight's supplier base is chiefly in Japan. This makes it easier for the company to continue to build cars in one market, instead of expanding to other markets where the supplier network isn't as strong. With the US auto supply industry struggling right now, perhaps bringing the Insight to America would expose the popular model to problems facing the industry.

The Honda Insight has been warmly received by entry level car buyers thanks to its low $19,800 base price. Undercutting the similar sized Toyota Prius by thousands of dollars, the Insight is the lowest priced hybrid car on the market, a model that gets 40 mpg city and 43 mpg on the highway.

This is the second round for the Insight a car that was first introduced as a two seater model during the late 1990s. That model was discontinued a few years ago, replaced by the Civic hybrid whose sales numbers were far behind the Prius.