REPORT: Honda Insight sales withering in face of competition from Toyota Prius
by Jeremy Korzeniewski on Jul 29th 2009 at 7:56PM 
2010 Honda Insight EX - Click above for high-res image gallery
Honda's Insight hybrid is failing to live up to sales expectations here in the important U.S. market. While Honda claims the Insight was never meant to be a direct competitor to the Toyota Prius, the truth is that the two cars are very much rivals in the eyes of many new car shoppers (and some Honda dealers). With that in mind, the 2,079 Insights that Honda managed to sell in June pales in comparison to the 12,998 Prius hybrids Toyota sold in the same month. Further, Honda is on track to sell less than one-third of its stated goal of 90,000 units in its first year on the market.
According to The Los Angeles Times, some dealerships are hoping Honda can rebound with a revised marketing campaign highlighting the Insight's price advantage over the Prius, which currently sits at a few thousand dollars at the base end. There are surely any number of reasons why the Insight may be losing ground in the hybrid race, and you can probably pick out some of them by clicking here to read our review of the 2010 Honda Insight and then clicking here for our take on the 2010 Toyota Prius.
Gallery: 2010 Honda Insight
[Source: Los Angeles Times]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Joe 8:25PM (7/29/2009)
Having taken an extended ride in one of these, its easy to see why it's selling so poorly. It has no power, feels cheap, and as a specific example, the A/C is powered off the engine, so it stops working every time the car stops moving. How does Honda justify that?
As for the power, once the battery gets low, you had better hope you don't have any steep hills coming up, because it truly will not climb them. I know this because we tried. No dice. The car can't do it without electric assist.
And as stated in the article, like it or not, people compare it to a Prius, and it fails in every way against the Gen 2 (except price).
Awful.
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Paul Tan 6:38AM (7/30/2009)
You sure about that? The aircond worked while the engine is off in the Civic Hybrid. Don't get why they would go backwards with this.
Bob L. 7:47AM (7/30/2009)
When Honda were thinking about the design of their next "hybrid for the people", they had this great design called the Honda Fit Hybrid. American Honda must have had a focus group moment and decided that they did not want a space effecient car with excelent rear headroom.
"The people want a car they can recognize as a hybrid from a distance" they said. So being cost efficient and time short, Honda took a fit chassis and grafted on an abomination with no headroom in the back seat. It sure rides like a fit though, very firm with very little suspension travel.
At least with a Hybrid fit, we would all be saying "well the ride is a bit firm, but it's a fit after all and look at those magic seats!"
You can bet money Toyota's next Yaris will be more like the fit but with a Synergy Drive option at some point.
Joe 9:19AM (7/30/2009)
I'm sure. The fan keeps running, but you quickly notice it's no longer blowing cold air if the engine has shut off. After further investigation, it turns out we were running mostly in ECO mode to test fuel economy. In ECO mode it shuts down as soon as you stop. In normal mode the engine will cycle on and off to keep the cabin cool.
If Honda just used an electric AC system like everybody else they could pickup MPGs.
As for the Yaris, Toyota recently said they have no intention of putting HSD in the Yaris. It would be pointless since the mileage is already very high.
Mike 9:49PM (7/29/2009)
Maybe it's not selling because consumers are smart enough to read the crappy reviews on it.
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mr.ed 7:55AM (7/30/2009)
There was a review in the UK that tore this car a new one. Then, the US writers got hold of it. Not much help there, either.
Joe Bonaparte 9:59PM (7/29/2009)
man,
it's so ugly. not an ounce of sex appeal. and it's a piece of crap, too?
the new accord coupe is such a good looking car. what is wrong with these people?
maybe they are making shitty hybrids to advance their hydrogen agenda.
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Wanted 10:15PM (7/29/2009)
Sucks for Honda! I knew that Japan was capable of making a piece of shat! Now, divert all your attention away from GM and toward this... POS.
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Dave B 10:20PM (7/29/2009)
The sellers of the 'hybrid for eveyone" assumed that everyone wants a hybrid.
Only when gas was $4.00 per gallon did everyone want a hybrid.
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ShaunneyCakes 11:00PM (7/29/2009)
The problem with this car has NOTHING to do with the look, but everything to do with it's MPG. Seriously... 40/43? Who in their right mind would choose this over a Civic Hybrid that gets BETTER MPG let alone a Prius which has been around the last 9 years and has 50 MPG? The prius blows this out of the water because it has an impressive MPG, if the Fusion Hybrid got 55/52 and was 25,000, no one would buy a Prius either.
I do not understand Honda on this one, why make the car look like this and underperform the competitors and your own hybrid models, and still price it relatively in the same range.
If the Insight was 17,000, i can see these things flying off the lot, but for just a hair above 20,000, why bother. It really is a shame... but seriously... why did they ever even build this???? I am still stunned at why this vehicle exists.
It could have at LEAST topped the Civic Hybrid. I am beginning to lose ALOT of faith in the Japanese Auto Makers and their meh cars lately. I am one more Toyota comment away from trading in my 2009 Toyota Prius for a 2010 Fusion Hybrid.
I am still shocked about this... seriously honda? Is this a joke?
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chado8705 8:21AM (7/30/2009)
I agree, I'm a huge Honda fan and have driven every new one that have out right now. All are very impressive except for the Insight. This thing was so hyped up and then it came out and became the biggest disappointment of the year.
But back to what you said, yes the Prius is probably a better car in every way possible except for the price. I do want people to keep in mind that article that was on here the other day about cost savings as cars get more efficient. Going from a 41 mpg to a 50 will only save you $200/year.. and thats at $4.00/gallon year round! It just doesn't make sense to buy most hybrids simply because of the MPG number anymore. The Prius right now is at a pretty good sweet spot at 50 mpg combined.. getting much more than that and the cost savings are pretty negligible.. for example at $4.00/gallon going from 50 to 100 mpg car only saves $450/year.. its significant alone but not when considering the premium cost of hybrids and their repairs costs.
Personally I like what Ford is doing.. turbocharging to get impressive HP along with MPG. They're focusing on making excellent engines which are just as easy to use for large vehicles where mpg gains have a much better impact both on the wallet and environment. A 4 mpg gain from 18 to 22 mpg saves as much gas as going from 50 to 100 mpg. I say enough with these huge battery packs people are trying to stuff into cars.. the cost, energy/environmental effects of making them out weigh all benefits of putting them in a car.
But I guess this is what has to happen before.. someday.. we can make batteries extremely cheap in an energy efficient and environmentally friend way. Right now I'll stick to my 2009 Honda Fit where I average 37 mpg.. it might not be 50 mpg but I'll deal with the $200/year (maybe) extra in gas that I'll spend and live with a car that's several thousand dollars cheaper to buy and finance.
Ray 11:23PM (7/29/2009)
Ha, ha and they will all be obsolete when the plugins come out in a few years. Should have waited on the Prius or the Honda. They need to sell as many as they can so the same people have to buy the plug-in. He,he ha.
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GPR 11:30PM (7/29/2009)
Lots of people buying the Prius are already "shopping down" - they could afford to pay more, and probably did for their last car. The fact that the Honda is thousands cheaper yet is probably not a huge incentive.
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the4thheat 9:27AM (7/30/2009)
I think it's more the fact that it's a piece of crap than the money. If it drove better, had a nicer interior, had better mileage, AND was cheaper by a little than the base Prius then it'd sell. As it is nobody cares about the extra two grand to get more room, better mileage, much better ride, better driving dynamics and power, and not feeling like you're driving a cheap piece of crap.
Somewhat funnily Autoblog was the only place with an initially good review claiming the handling was good before it was followed by a review saying that the ride and handling are awful on real world roads.
unni 12:19AM (7/30/2009)
Simple words : People care spending money on crappy products when they have option.
Brand names does not matter, Products matter.
Good products market them self .
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Mike Z 12:45AM (7/30/2009)
I have the suspect that Honda's long term target price is $15k-$17k but upped the release price to try and skim the cream of people who would pay the premium for hybrid. It backfired and now they might well have to drop the plan and cut the price now instead of waiting.
I figure the hybrid drive maybe cost Honda $1,000.
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Mike Z 12:46AM (7/30/2009)
Bottom line, Honda tried to take a cheap car, bolt on a hybrid drive, and sell it as a high margin product.
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Nick P. 1:37AM (7/30/2009)
Just like Toyota before them, Honda is terrified that a popular green car would cannibalize their Civic or Accord sales. It will take them a few years to get the courage to go full throttle into EVs.
This car is obviously a compromise between different factions within the company. One camp wants this to fail so the can continue as usual and the other wants to compete with Toyota.
No such problem at Nissan & Tesla apparently...
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Chauncey 1:47AM (7/30/2009)
Bravo guys, I agree with pretty much EVERY post here! I love this site, it's like talking with friends. Basically, half-assed effort, half-assed sales. And ya, while Toyota finally made the Prius look half decent, the Insight looks BRUTAL. Sorry Honda, how's that hydrogen coming along?! LOL
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Nozferat 2:10AM (7/30/2009)
This car is a failure because it looks hideous. It may not live up to super high mileage either but this car is truly hideous. Honda could have made this a winner by simply making it look better....and it would sold even without super mileage.
Honda screwed up on this one. They should have just brought over the Fit hybrid and given it a sporty option by selling the hybrid like they do the Fit Sports.
Why do car manufacturers dumb down their hybrid cars and make them so ugly?
Even if this car sold for $15K, I would not buy one just based on the looks.
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