Honda killing Insight ahead of new hybrid
We learned of Honda's plans to develop an all-new low cost hybrid early yesterday morning, but what wasn't revealed in Honda's press release was the company's plant to kill off the Insight, the first hybrid to be sold in the U.S. and a permanent fuel economy champ since its introduction. Production of the Insight will come to a halt in September, which will leave Honda without its high mileage champ for a couple of years before the new model arrives, which is said to be "suitable for family use" unlike the two-seater Insight it replaces.
[Sources: AutoWeek]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Daniel 10:14AM (5/18/2006)
I owned a 2001 Insight CVT and it's still my favorite car I've ever had. I averaged 55ish mpg while I had it, and set a personal best of 68mpg over 200 miles on a round trip commute.
I truly, truly, miss that car.
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mickster 10:19AM (5/18/2006)
Other than early battery death (now fixed), I've never heard a bad word about the Insight...
And thanks to Honda's Insight and insight, we now drive a 2006 Civic Hybrid which we love (although we would love leather and a sunroof...)
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Onell 10:22AM (5/18/2006)
This is the most awful car in N/A!
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Chris 10:23AM (5/18/2006)
This is sad news, but not unexpected. Even though Honda will always be the first company to bring a modern hybrid to the U.S., it's hard to compete with the practicality of the Prius. Being a college student (thus having little funds and lots of stuff) an Insight wouldn't have made much sense for me, but I defintely could see myself picking one up in a couple of years as an urban runabout
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Liam 10:33AM (5/18/2006)
So with this talk of adding diesel engines to the US lineup, I am wondering why we dont see any Diesel hybrids. Is there a technical reason I am not thinkinf of that precludes this? (Maybe the auto stop/start of the diesel engine would not be feasible like the gas units?)
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Adam 11:01AM (5/18/2006)
Thanks for the intelligent input Onell.
I always wonderend how this car was to drive. I heard it was actually somewhat fun to drive, where as I have heard that the Prius and Civic hybrids are quite unfun and uninvolving to drive.
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Peter 11:10AM (5/18/2006)
Not really a surprise, this is nearly a custom built aluminum bodied car. They probably lose money on each one they sell.
It would have been cool to have them upgrade this one to work in full electric mode, and then user moded to plug in status. This would be the best car to do it on since it has the lightes weight and the best aerodynamics, it could squeeze more out of batteries than any other chassis.
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DJ 11:14AM (5/18/2006)
I've known three people that have owned Insights and they all loved them. The only complaint I ever heard was driving it in snow or icy roads. Because of the extremely skinny and low roll resistance tires, winter travel could be very dicey at best. High winds made that even worse.
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Lithous 11:16AM (5/18/2006)
" I owned a 2001 Insight CVT and it's still my favorite car I've ever had."
OK, so why would one not currently own their favorite car ever? You do state, "owned" (past tense) and that year isn't so old that the car shouldn't be around now just because of age. That is like telling a chic, "it's not you, it's me". Just makes no sense for you two to be together. Sorry if I tear up.
"And thanks to Honda's Insight and insight, we now drive a 2006 Civic Hybrid which we love (although we would love leather and a sunroof...)"
Another love story, how sweet. Even with the inadequacies of no leather and sunroof there's still love there. That's unconditional love for sure.
Hope your experience isn't as bad as my co-worker who has 90K on her Civic hybrid and it is having problem after problem. She told me that Honda (I guess she meant the dealer) is admitting a problem with them. Hers is a couple years older than your 2006 so I'm sure it will work out well.
Gee, I wonder why the General really didn't want to make hybrids. If it wasn't for gov't subsidizing they would be closer to a half of a percent of all car sales in the U.S. instead of 1%. And that is with gas over $3 a gallon in many places.
Honda should have known the Insight wasn't going to do well. Look at the size of the Accord and Camry, these things are practically twice the size of their predecessors less than 20 years ago (especially the Camry). Buyers of new cars had more kids back then too (i.e. bigger families). The point is most people never wanted the little crap the Japanese were producing (and since we already mathmatically determined that GM sold at least 600K more units last year than Toyota deleting all fleet sales that means that it was a ton more difference 10 to 20 years ago, so yes, that statement is true: most Americans didn't want the little cars Japan was producing, not then and not now).
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Phil L. 11:22AM (5/18/2006)
While I haven't driven one, I've read that stock Insights have one troubling aspect for those who enjoy driving: The OEM wheel alignment specification calls for the front wheels to be virtually parallel (i.e., the toe adjustment is zero).
On most cars, the wheel alignment calls for the front edge of the front wheels to be ever so slightly closer to each other than the rear edge. This contributes to handling, particularly at highway speeds - but it also increases rolling resistance. Since the Insight is primarily designed for high mileage, they sacrificed front-end feel for efficiency.
IIRC, Car & Driver was so annoyed by the wandering front end of the Insight they tested that they experimented by adding some toe to the alignment. Handling improved immediately - but mileage went down.
The Insight is a nice piece of technology, and leaving it alone has been an easy way for Honda to top the mileage list. But, as a two-seat specialty car, it will never be a big seller, or a big part of Honda's future.
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Lee Gibson 11:35AM (5/18/2006)
Lithous, why the heck would I care what "most Americans" do? I'd be willing to wager that "most Americans" buy cars based on who showed them the shiniest commercial the most recently.
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Rob 11:52AM (5/18/2006)
Lithous,
Your comment is so pathetic. There are PLENTY of Japanese cars and hybrids around here (Northern VA), even the highlander and lexus rx hybrids that everybody seems to say don't sell very well. Now the Escape hybrid? I don't see that one around too much, even with their 0% interest incentive.
Oh, and I understand that "most Americans" do, in fact, like Japanese cars...in fact, what is the top-selling passenger car? The CAMRY! That's right! And the second- and third-best-selling passenger cars? The Civic and the Accord!
Now, if you were talking about trucks, I definitely would agree, Americans prefer Fords and Chevys (F-150 as we all know is #1 overall!) - but no, you're just being ignorant.
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Chris 11:57AM (5/18/2006)
#8 - Maybe #1 has since gotten married and had children. Apparently it's bad form to stuff them in the hatch. But I'm just guessing.
Honestly, can't you envision any sort of scenario which might force someone to trade in their beloved subcompact for something different?
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Daniel 12:14PM (5/18/2006)
"OK, so why would one not currently own their favorite car ever? You do state, "owned" (past tense) and that year isn't so old that the car shouldn't be around now just because of age. That is like telling a chic, "it's not you, it's me". Just makes no sense for you two to be together. Sorry if I tear up."
I sold the insight for a profit because I no longer had a long commute and we needed a second sedan (family man). I bought a 2005 Volvo S60 T5 (6spd!) to replace the insight. I've actually since sold the Volvo and am shopping for a larger sedan (Azera, S80, who knows). I go through cars like candy bars.
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Jaimie B 12:35PM (5/18/2006)
Eveybody knows mister zero-IQ (aka litos) is a Japanese hater.
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Michael Karesh sucks 1:18PM (5/18/2006)
Not to side with this Lithous moron, but the Insight never amounted to much more than an impractical tool that accelerated slower than any car on the road and cost Honda money on every unit sold.
If you stuff a puny-ass trunk-less 2-seat teardrop with a 3-cylinder engine, rock-hard tires, wheel skirts, and wrap it in co$tly aluminum, of course it'll get 50 MPG! But anyone could do that, and the point remains: it remains a lesser technical achievement than the Prius.
Good riddance to high school science experiments, hello to real cars.
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karlInSanDiego 1:58PM (5/18/2006)
Honda effectively stopped selling this 2 years ago, though they didn't want to admit it. Dealers made no money and neither did Honda. When the Civic hybrid came out the company line was to bait and switch to the Civic Hybrid. Dealers refused to stock them and this effectivly ended their run. I credit Honda for designing what many should be driving (ie light, slippery, and refined to the extreme to effectivly double everyone's mileage in a single vehicle generation), but the loss-leader price-point was a lie that was copied by Toy and the Prius. All of these should cost upwards of $35k if they really wanted to recoup their R&D and cover the cost of batteries + increase complexity.
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MikeW 2:08PM (5/18/2006)
Goodthing Honda didn't have custom winter snow tires created just for the Insight (Blizzak MZ-030) 165/65 14
Good thing Honda didn't make the stock insight wheel 5.5" wide and 185/60 14 fit.
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Lithous 2:09PM (5/18/2006)
" Lithous, why the heck would I care what "most Americans" do?"
Yeah, that's what Honda thought and now they need to cancel the Insight. That is what all the import fanboys state that GM thinks like as well. So maybe one should care about most Americans.
"Oh, and I understand that "most Americans" do, in fact, like Japanese cars...in fact, what is the top-selling passenger car? The CAMRY! That's right! And the second- and third-best-selling passenger cars? The Civic and the Accord!"
Hello, Mc Fly. I stated that people never like the SMALL Japanese cars much (such that a majority of buyers would buy a SMALL Japanese car then or NOW as in the small Insight). I did state that the Japanese cars keep getting BIGGER. Almost double the size in 15 - 20 years for THE SAME NAMEPLATE which are selling very well.
Please, think, I know it is difficult, all the thinking jobs are going to foreigners but think and read and understand.
"Eveybody knows mister zero-IQ (aka litos) is a Japanese hater."
Commenting on autoblog just ain't your game. I know, let's have a spelling contest. LOL
"I sold the insight for a profit because I no longer had a long commute..."
There are a lot of things I like very much and could sell for a profit but I don't because I like it too much. If it was the best of whatever ever, then no way. Also, I thought hybrids weren't very effective for long communtes, unless you like driving around the city in circles for some reason to make the commute longer? I'm messing with you anyway.
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Bill 2:33PM (5/18/2006)
I'd prefer a high-mpg more conventional sporty two-seater, like the old CRX HF. When the Insight came out I wasn't all that impressed, when compared to the CRX of yore. I'm still a hybrid skeptic I guess. Certain older variations of Civics got MPG in the 50's and were the MPG champions of their day.
82-83 Civic 1300 FE (Mom had a 82, I had an 83).
84+(?) CRX HF
90's Civic VX'x and HX's.
Reliable, affordable, dependable, fun to drive cars, and no electric wizardry needed (some still had carbs even).
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