The Honda Insight may not be long of this earth. The low-cost hybrid Honda has been confirmed for the 2014 model year, but its life beyond that is in doubt.
According to AutoblogGreen, evidence of this stems from a lack of advertising preparations for anything beyond 2014 in the US market. Honda would neither confirm nor deny the rumor.
The Insight has been Honda’s low-cost answer to Toyota’s best selling Prius hybrid, but was saddled with a poor Consumer Reports review right out of the box. Currently, the Honda Civic Hybrid outsells the Insight, despite a $5,635 higher starting price tag.
There’s also the matter of the third-generation Fit already released in Japan. Even in its most thirsty form, it achieves 45 mpg in the Japanese testing cycle, and that’s with a regular petrol version. The Fit Hybrid, on the other hand, returns an astounding 86 mpg, besting and outselling the Toyota Prius in its home market. For comparison, the Insight gets 52 to 64 mpg in the Japanese testing cycle, and 44 mpg in the US-market EPA cycle. The 1.3-liter system used in the Fit Hybrid has already been adapted to a number of other models sold in Japan.
The Fit Hybrid is not currently expected to be sold in the US, while the Civic Hybrid is not sold in Japan. The demise of the Insight means Honda would have a void to fill in the entry-level hybrid niche in the US, as well as the mid-size hybrid segment in Japan.
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