Bill
Moore of EVWorld.com
had a chance to pick the brain of Honda’s Gunnar Lindstrom, the senior manager of American Honda’s
Alternative Fuel Vehicle Programs. The question Bill asked is a good one – what’s up with the Insight?
Through November the Insight has sold only 624 units for American Honda in 2005, with only the hydrogen
fuel cell-powered FCX listed below it at six units. Why
then go on selling a vehicle that’s remained virtually unchanged since its introduction in 2000?
Lindstrom’s answer is, as you’d expect, that the Insight means much more to Honda than just sales. Every
time the EPA and Natural Resources
Canada publish their best and worst in the area of fuel economy, the Insight appears in the top spot, conspicuously
above the name of one Toyota Prius, the runaway hit of hybrid
sales. As long as Honda can squat in that top spot it will, which means the Insight will go on indefinitely until
Honda can replace it with something just as thrifty.
[Thanks to Darin at MetroMPG.com for the tip]