honda insight
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Although the Honda Insight was eagerly awaited before it launched as a 2010 model, the little hybrid hatchback has never come remotely close to its sales goals. But the company isn't giving up, and the new 2012 Honda Insight features revised front styling, a nicer interior, and improved gas mileage ratings. The subcompact 2012 Insight now gets EPA mileage numbers that are 1 mpg higher for all three ratings: city goes from 40 to 41 mpg, highway from 43 to 44 mpg, and the combined rating is now 42 mpg, up from last year's 41 mpg. The front of the Insight now features a redesigned--Honda calls...
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Loss Of California HOV-Lane 'Prius Perk' Slows All Traffic, Study Says
Many California drivers silently cheered on July 1, when the yellow stickers on 85,000 hybrid cars expired--meaning their drivers were no longer allowed to travel solo in the carpool lane. According to a new study released Monday at the University of California-Berkeley, though the loss of the...
John Voelcker -
3 Best-Selling Hybrids: Toyota Prius, Honda Insight, Sonata Hybrid
For a few years now, hybrid sales have been stalled at 2 to 3 percent of the U.S. market. But for the first seven months of this year, the total is at the low end of the scale: Hybrids represented 2.06 percent of sales from January through August, and just 1.98 percent of sales in August alone. The...
John Voelcker -
2012 Honda Insight: Higher MPGs, New Grille, Nicer Interior
For 2012, Honda is planning to revise the Insight hatchback to address several of the criticisms levied against its smallest four-seat hybrid. Now, it's released a few details of the revised 2012 Insight before it officially unveils the updated model at the Frankfurt Motor Show, which opens...
John Voelcker -
CA To Hybrid Drivers: Sorry, We're Just Not That Into You--Any More
Spare a thought, if you will, a momentary tear, for 85,000 doomed drivers of three models of hybrid car in California. They are the unlucky losers of a privilege that saved them time, raised the value of their vehicle, and undoubtedly increased their karmic contentment, all because of a set of tiny...
John Voelcker -
Why Haven't Hybrid Sales Been Higher, And Should They Be?
Hybrid cars seem to bring out strong beliefs among car buyers, both pro and con. On the pro side, they get better gas mileage, offer some small degree of all-electric running, and let buyers display (to varying degrees) their green credentials. On the con side, they're usually pricier than...
John Voelcker -
For all the media furor over the 2011 Nissan Leaf and the 2011 Chevy Volt, you'd think that tens of thousands of them were flooding onto our streets each month. Not so. As of Feb 28, the total sold between both cars was just 1,102, made up of 928 Volts and 174 Leafs. Now, it may be that those totals won't rise as fast as the makers had planned before the Japanese earthquake and tsunami. Nissan shut down its Japanese plants--including Oppama, which builds the Leaf--and the Volt's transmission is sourced in Japan. More surchages, for longer Supplies of both cars could be reduced for months...
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Honda Takes The Insight Down A Notch—In Price
Honda has been battling the Toyota Prius popularity pretty much since its introduction and that battle has been an up hill struggle with the Honda Hybrids not gaining much traction in the market. The theory was that was all going to change with the introduction of the all-new Honda Insight for...
Jonathan McGrew -
Will Hyundai Hammer Honda In Fight For Greenest Carmaker Title?
For many years, Honda was routinely awarded the title of greenest carmaker in the U.S. market. But its most recent green cars have stumbled, and a dark-horse competitor is rising fast toward taking the coveted title, conferred every few years by the Union of Concerned Scientists. It's not Nissan...
John Voelcker -
Ouch! Honda Yanks Civic Hybrid AND Insight Off Sale In Canada
[UPDATE: Honda Canada later clarified to Autoblog Green that it was not removing the cars from sale, but merely selling down available stocks, and that it would order more units from Japan when and if customer sales actually depleted its supplies of either model.] As early as last year's U.S. sales...
John Voelcker -
Honda To Launch Plug-In Hybrid Car in 2013, A Year After Toyota
It's been a time of turmoil for Honda lately, with the company doubling down on hybrids and pulling back on its clean-diesel efforts. Now, according to a Reuters report, the company will introduce both a plug-in hybrid and a fully electric car for the 2013 model year. The electric car will be...
John Voelcker -
Green Car Sales: Winners and Losers of 2009
It's beginning to look as if the worst is over for U.S. auto sales. The year that just closed was, in the immortal words of Queen Elizabeth II, an annus horribilis, with only 10.4 million vehicles sold, down 21 percent on 2008 and the lowest total since 1982. But some light seems to be appearing on...
John Voelcker -
It has been less than a week since the Honda Insight went on sale in Japan and there are already modifications available for it. The perennial Honda tuners at Mugen have given the Insight a visual makeover consisting of a new grill, front and rear under spoilers, side skirts, "sport silencer" muffler and rims. For those greenies who secretly wish they were driving Mitsubishi Lancer Evos, a gigantic rear wing is also included. None of these improvements make the Insight faster. Whether or not they make it more attractive is questionable. The Insight is a cool looking car without the extra...