Fast forward to 2017 , almost 3 years after discontinuation of 2nd generation of Insight, today Honda North America released a press release to a surprise. After two times failure of Insight in a row generation after generation, Honda is taking one more chance and bringing the model again as a third generation. Honda also released images of a prototype which will be made public on 15th January 2018 at North American International Auto Show at Detroit. The prototype images reveals a very sleek , sporty looking vehicle. Unlike last two generations which were based on hatchback design, the third generation is conventional 4 door , 5 passenger sedan. The prototype carry the same design language currently in use by other Honda line up. At first glance one can get mistaken for its identity as it looks so much similar to Accord at front. The rear of the vehicle show new style LED tail lights while side profile is similar to the current Civic. Overall the teaser images somewhat reveals the new Insight have same footprint as 10th generation Civic. The new Insight is product of Honda Design Studio USA, also responsible for successful current 10th generation of Honda Civic as well as the new 10th generation Accord. Mr. Henio Arcangeli, Jr., senior vice president of Automobile Sales and general manager of the Honda Division, American Honda Motor Co., Inc. said
“With its sophisticated styling, dynamic stance, ample interior space and best-in-class performance, the all-new Insight embodies Honda’s approach to creating electrified vehicles without the typical tradeoffs, You won’t have to be an electrification advocate to appreciate the new Insight – it’s a great car in its own right, independent of what’s happening under the hood.”
Honda has not released any details on the what is under the hood of this new Insight but said that it will be Honda’s two motor hybrid system, which is same system currently applied in the Hybrid variant of the Accord. Although the Hybrid Accord use a naturally aspirated 2.0L engine, we can expect a 1.5 Liter naturally aspirated engine , which is also in use by Honda Clarity, another efficient vehicle from Honda in certain markets like North America Hybrid vehicle and available as plugin Hybrid as well as Electric. As far as interior we see some design clues taken from the Accord interior and Honda said it will be a premium interior with high quality materials as well as safety and other features. Honda promise best in class performance as far as fuel economy for vehicle in its class.
Looking at prototype images, it looks like the vehicle is production ready. If we look at prototypes shown by Honda for the currently in production models, we come across this fact that mostly the prototypes were very very close to the production models with very less changes. This means that we might not see a huge lot of changes on interior or exterior of prototype and most of the design remain intact in the production version. The new Insight will be " Hybrid only "model and will be placed between the conventional Civic Sedan and Accord.
Overall it seems that the new Insight will surely do much better comparing its predecessors, with its refinement and all new design inside and out. I believe that Honda moved to conventional sedan version this time because this being a hatchback would place them right next to their all time competitor, Toyota Prius. In sedan version Honda can market it in much broader perspective. Honda mentioned that the new Insight will be available sometime in 2018 in United States and will be produced exclusively at Honda’s Greensburg, Indiana plant. We will share more details with our readers time to time on this story once its available.
Meanwhile lets us know what you think about the new Insight. Will it be failed attempt as its dark past or will it take some customers away from Prius ?
