Autoblog

According to AutoExpress' Japan correspondent, Peter Lyon, when the 3rd generation Prius goes on sale in Europe next year, the current model will continue to be sold at a discount along side its modern counterpart. The rumored decision by Toyota is in response to the release of the new Honda Insight hybrid, which will start at around £15,000 when it goes on sale this March. In the report, Lyon contends that Toyota wants to woo people into showrooms with the current Prius' lower sticker in an attempt to compete with its cross-town rival. We're interested to see how this will play with consumers and wonder if Toyota will use a similar tactic when the next generation Prius goes on sale in the States around the same time.

UPDATE: AutoExpress' report has been denied by Toyota. No surprise.


[Source: AutoExpress]

The Honda Insight concept took a hushed bow under the lights of Paris today. It's Prius-esque, but in person the car is less evocative of its Toyota challenger. The Insight's width and rather low height give it a substantial presence, and there's a bit of attitude out back with the hatch sliding into a flick of a tail. We imagine some of the more complex elements, such as the headlights reminiscent of shards from Superman's home planet of Krypton, will not make it to production. We hope the interior, however, is left untouched -- it is just the right blend of tech and common currency. The production version will be introduced to the public at the Detroit Auto Show in January and pricing is rumored to be just under $19,000 when it goes on sale. In the mean time, enjoy the gallery of high-res photos below, and check out the press release after the jump.

There could soon come a day when you waltz into a local Prius dealership to purchase your next hybrid car. As Toyota did with the Scion brand, the Japanese giant is still said to be considering making an entirely new brand just for hybrids out of its popular Prius hatchback. We are certain to get a redesigned Prius after it debuts in Detroit in 2009, and after that, the rumormill indicates that a smaller hybrid model is on the way that would more closely compete with the new Honda Insight, which will undercut the standard Prius by a scooter-sized chunk of change. Toyota previewed a hybrid model powered by a smaller gas engine when it introduced the world to its 1/X concept at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show. With a bit of mild speculation, we could envision a slightly larger model than the current Prius as a replacement for the Camry hybrid, giving Toyota a three-pronged answer to the likes of the Volt from GM and the Insight from Honda.


[Source: Reuters]

It's the impending debut of the all-new Prius-assaulting Insight hybrid that's got our hearts all aflutter over Honda's booth at the upcoming Paris Motor Show, but that's not all the automaker will be bringing with it to the City of Lights. Along with the new dedicated hybrid we'll see the latest version of its older and somewhat less interesting brother, the Civic Hybrid, that along with the rest of the Civic line for '09, gets a small bit of freshening for the new model year. We do like the looks of the new front-end, but besides that, there's not much to see here... and so we move along to the CR-Z hybrid coupe that Honda's been showing off since Tokyo. Big H's other stab at saving the world runs on hydrogen, the FCX Clarity. Despite the fact that nobody in Europe will be able to buy it, it'll be there with bells on.

Honda will also use the Paris Motor Show to introduce the Continent to its new-for-'09 Jazz, known to us Yanks as the Fit. Something else that should be of interest to the Europeans is Honda's first automatic gearbox for its ubiquitous 2.2-liter diesel engine, dubbed the i-DTEC, which rounds out the new stuff that Honda has to show in Paris.

[Source: Honda]

Click above for a high-res gallery of the Honda Insight Concept

Honda is reviving an old name for its new Global Hybrid that goes on sale next spring by calling it the Insight. The new five-door hatchback "Prius-Killer" will be the most direct competitor yet for Toyota's iconic hybrid. Learning from the lesson that hybrid buyers apparently prefer their cars to be recognizable as such rather than being derivatives of existing models, Honda has modeled the new Insight after its low volume FCX Clarity fuel cell car and will be debuting it as a concept at the Paris Motor Show next month before it goes on sale as the least expensive hybrid in the world in 2009. Recent comments by Honda have hinted at a price starting at $18,500 for the Insight, which goes on sale 10 years after the original. Unlike the tiny two-seater that had limited appeal and utility, this new one is expected to appeal to a much wider audience. Honda is planning for worldwide sales of 200,000 units a year with 100,000 going to the U.S. market.


[Source: Honda]

Click above for high-res gallery of Honda Hybrid spy shots

Hybrids are hot and Honda is anxious to get in on the action that Toyota's been unable to fully quench with its Prius hybrid sedan. We expect to see the production version of Honda's new hybrid, which will apparently not be called the Insight, to debut in October at the Paris Motor Show. Fortunately, Honda won't make us wait too long to buy its new hybrid, as the five-door hatchback is rumored to show up in dealer lots by April of 2009. Toyota also plans on showing off its new third-gen Prius at the Detroit Auto Show in January, so it will be very interesting to watch these to tangle in the marketplace. Honda plans to undercut its rival in the pricing wars with its hybrid coming in at a base price of less than $19,000, a few thousand less than the larger Prius. Both models will use nickel metal hydride batteries (for now) as opposed to the latest lithium ion units in an effort to keep their costs down. Both should also score fuel mileage numbers somewhere in the 50-60 mpg range. For its part, Honda is planning to build 200,000 units of its new hybrid annually, with 100,000 earmarked for the U.S. Let the (fuel-saving) games begin!


[Source: Automotive News - sub. req'd]

If you're already stretched paper thin under the financial weight of a thirsty, expensive vehicle, getting out of it for something more fuel efficient might seem like an unattainable dream. Fear not, the smarties over at Consumer Reports have rightly pointed out that since depreciation accounts for nearly half of the cost of a car during its first five years of ownership, buying a used miser is the best way to save money and resources.

The usual suspects top CR's lists; both the under $10,000 and $10,000-$20,000 categories are dominated by Toyota and Honda products. Honda's Insight is deemed the zenith of $10,000 sippers, with the '01-'02 Prius right on its heels. For the higher-price category, the first two slots are occupied by the Prius, and Honda's Civic Hybrid takes the next two seedings. Rankings are based on CR's own fuel economy tests, done with a flow meter and repeatable drive cycle, and overall assessments of the vehicle's quality and reliability likely play big roles in how the list was compiled. It is also noted that older vehicles may be missing out in some more modern features like stability control and side-curtain airbags, but that may be more of an issue for the under $10,000 set, which stretches back to vehicles from the late 1990s. Hybrids might be tough to secure right now, especially for a reasonable price, but going used might allow you to ease your consumption while dodging a high-buck purchase to do so.

[Source: Consumer Reports]

Click above for high-res gallery of the Honda CR-Z concept

First Honda said it was going to press the reset button on its hybrid efforts and come out with something bolder than the Civic Hybrid. Then it laid out plans for a number of hybrids that would be priced considerably more aggressively than the Toyota Prius. One of the concepts, the funky CR-Z, has already got people abuzz.

More details have emerged about the first hybrid to appear, a 5-door hatch with unique styling that's based on the Fit, but three inches taller and one inch wider. It will use the Civic Hybrid's Integrated Motor Assist technology and mate that car's 1.3-liter engine with 94 hp to a 15kW electric motor powered by a nickel-metal-hydride battery pack. Fuel economy, according to insider predictions, will be somewhere around 71 - 82 miles per gallon, but that's based on Japanese domestic use. Expect a drop for U.S. comparison.

Honda is considering a return to the name "Insight" for its first new hybrid, which we're all for. The Insight was a brilliant little ride, and we never understood why Honda let it go. Though it was low on practicality with only two seats and not much storage, it was a purpose-built vehicle for big mpg numbers. This potential new Insight will be Honda's global hybrid, and the company expects to sell 100,000 of them in the U.S. annually. Add this to the other three hybrids Honda is planning, and Honda's hybrid future -- assuming it delivers as promised -- looks quite bright.


[Source: Auto Observer via eGM Car Tech]

Click on the image for more shots of the Honda FCX Clarity

Honda's upcoming dedicated hybrid model is expected to debut at the 2008 Paris Motor Show, and a recent interview with Honda CEO Takeo Fukui revealed that the car will look similar to its hydrogen fuel cell vehicle, the FCX Clarity. Although many upcoming hybrid models use lithium ion batteries (including the Chevy Volt and Honda's own FCX), Honda plans to stick with the tried-and-true nickel metal hydride technology for its new machine along with an engine derived from the Civic's, though smaller, lighter and with newly programmed electronics. Also like the Civic and Accord, the new hybrid model will use the same nameplate the world over; what that nameplate will be remains a mystery. Insight, anyone?

Expected to be priced below the Civic Hybrid, Honda hopes to sell 200,000 of its new hybrid model per year. We expect that the new machine will start an epic battle between Honda and Toyota for supremacy in the entry-level hybrid market, much as they already duke it out in the midsize sedan range with the Accord and Camry. Consumers only stand to benefit from the competition, so we look forward to more information as it becomes available.


[Sources: Hybrid Cars, Automotive News (sub. req'd), AutoblogGreen]

Honda CEO Takeo Fukui has said Honda will now take the hybrid war seriously, with a claim that, "The real competition has just begun." Honda is planning to come out with a hybrid-only model in early 2009 that will provide genuine competition for the Toyota Prius.

It seems everyone has been forced to play off the Prius' cues, such as when Fukui says that, "Until now, it has been an image-based competition, not a business-based competition." Which explains the Civic Hybrid being a misstep, because according to CNW research, 50-percent of folks who buy hybrids need the world to know it's a hybrid because they don't want people to think they are burning the remains of giant lizards.

How does Honda plan to get the consumer's attention a year from now? Primarily, sticker shock -- but the good kind. Fukui said he wants the car to come in below the price of the current Civic Hybrid, which is $23,235. The current Prius starts at $20,950, so Honda needs to count a fair number of beans if they want price alone to be the allure. Fukui did say, nevertheless, that he expected the car to have a lighter hybrid engine, which would give better gas mileage. But will either the Prius or new Honda hybrid get better mileage than the MINI Cooper D?

[Source: Automotive News - Sub. Req.]