Honda Insight Hybrid Concept at Paris 2008

Honda Insight

The Honda Insight is a “dedicated hybrid vehicle” in Honda terms, which means it is a model that only comes with a hybrid powertrain, unlike the Honda Civic Hybrid which also has non-hybrid variants.

The 5-door, 5-seater car has its battery and control unit located under the cargo space. This is the latest version of Honda’s Integrated Motor Assist system. A production version will be announced later and will go on sale in spring 2009 in Japan, Europe and North America. Annual sales are projected to reach 200,000 units.

We have to note that none of the promises that Honda made when they first talked about this new Insight sometime ago have been fulfilled with this concept. The Insight will apparently be cheap enough for a majority of people to consider, instead of current hybrids which are typically much more expensive than the regular versions.

The Civic Hybrid currently costs RM162,800 here in Malaysia, much more than the Civic 2.0 at RM128,800, and that is a big price difference. We will have to wait for the production Insight to be unveiled to do a price comparison and see if the Insight will really be an affordable hybrid.

BTW Honda, what happened to AVTEC? Toyota’s Valvematic has already been put into production cars in both Europe and Japan.

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Paul Tan

After dabbling for years in the IT industry, Paul Tan initially began this site as a general blog covering various topics of personal interest. With an increasing number of readers paying rapt attention to the motoring stories, one thing led to another and the rest, as they say, is history.

 

Comments

  • gods twin (Member) on Oct 09, 2008 at 5:25 pm

    1st to comment, yahoooooo.

    The interior looks awesome, i like the meter cluster and the rear lights.
    Wonder how much it ll cost here in malaysia?

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  • kerelbort (Member) on Oct 09, 2008 at 5:43 pm

    is it necessary to have prius stance?

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  • w_lighter (Member) on Oct 09, 2008 at 5:52 pm

    I dont like the rear~

    And it looks like a Toyota Prius. They clone each other or is there some technical reason for the same shape? Best possible shape for aerodynamics perhaps?

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  • ansonlee (Member) on Oct 09, 2008 at 7:14 pm

    Well it mignt look a bit like a Prius but it also looks like the first generation Insight

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  • Kevin Lee (Member) on Oct 09, 2008 at 7:24 pm

    the original honda insight had similar rear. i dont know about it looking like a prius, but most japanese cars resemble each other

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  • kei9 (Member) on Oct 09, 2008 at 10:04 pm

    dazzling lights make me go ahhh..

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  • kingv6 (Member) on Oct 09, 2008 at 11:16 pm

    wow impressive….
    LED rules..

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  • raptorclans (Member) on Oct 10, 2008 at 8:19 am

    I like the rear, it’s like a tribute to the previous model… and it seems more like the Prius now, but I guess it’s not a bad thing as that’ll mean more space and comfort. Good that the front is still very Honda :)

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  • SY0H (Member) on Oct 10, 2008 at 9:35 am

    Hi there,

    I guess the reason why Honda Hybrid New Concept has bigger rear-boot is to accommodate the big batteries which are very common issue for hybrid and battery powered vehicles. To compensate this, they must have designed the rear-boot to have higher vertical clearance or increased volume for baggage. Similar issue with CNG or LNG cars in which the tanks are huge and its eating up most of the rear-boot space.

    Yeah, I like the light-blue “bling-bling” LEDs. Its a girl-magnet features. You all know lah, I don’t know what’s wrong with girls when it comes to shiny things, lights and fireworks, they seems to be attracted to it…hurm.

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  • BanyakMasukWorkshop (Member) on Oct 10, 2008 at 9:38 am

    nice concept. wonder how long it will take Honda to get it from the drawing board, to the road.

    i also wonder how far away LED headlights are, or whether it will even happen at all.

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  • lowprofile (Member) on Oct 10, 2008 at 11:58 am

    read somewhere that it is the most aerodynamically efficient (may not be the most beautiful) shape to save on fuel. sadly, it makes the prius and the insight look so similar. nice interior though and i kinda like the exterior too.

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  • MycarMyLife (Member) on Oct 11, 2008 at 9:36 am

    Good for Honda fans out there ,wish there will be more options for the buyers in the future . Our govt. should support new techno and give incentives to all quarters in the auto industry to change and go green
    Lets have more Honda , wonder what happened to toyota san have they forgetten about Malaysia?

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  • jamsbong (Member) on Oct 12, 2008 at 12:24 am

    Honda claims it is an efficient aero shape, so it is just coincidence that it looks identical to Toyota’s distinct Prius. COME ON Honda, you guys just used a photocopier and copied every page of the Prius Brochure and replace the name Toyota to Honda.

    I find Honda is really full of BS. They claim racing is in their blood. They claim without Honda, there will be no racing. Just look at the results in F1 today and you’ll find they are always the slow backmarkers. In contrast, Toyota made great progress and Toyota is a younger team than Honda.

    As pointed out, The over hyped AVTEC never really made into production.

    The golden days of Honda are gone.

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  • ALPINA BMW (Member) on Oct 15, 2008 at 3:00 pm

    if a hybrid car can look this good, toyota can close shop

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  • Husky (Member) on Nov 01, 2008 at 2:26 pm

    I want one !

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  • Hopefully this comes true…Looks 100x better than current hybrid.

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  • danwat1234 on Jun 21, 2012 at 10:32 am

    Doesn’t have that good of gas mileage compared to the Prius.
    Luckily Honda is planning on making the next generation of the Civic Hybrid, Insight, CRZ for the 2013 or 2014 year. It’ll be a stronger hybrid that can have the ICE off more of the time.

    Honda Earth Dreams engines due out around the same time should help increase MPG across all models.

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