More pictures of the 2019 Honda Insight (Concept)

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I still do not get the idea of the new Insight.
I am not sure that making it look almost exactly like the Civic is such a stroke of genius.
It is basically a Civic Hybrid. But somehow will be positioned above the Civic.
(Of course since Hybrids do cost more anyway…)
You can already have luxury items like leather seats, sunroof, power seats, high end stereo etc.. in the Civic sedan. So I am not sure how much more “premium” this can really be…
The regular Civic also is getting great mileage. 32/42MPG.
The Insight would have to do much, much better to be worth the extra money.
A slightly more conservative version of the Civic. Which still looks like it should have been a hatchback in the first place.
At least, making it a hatchback would have been a nice way to make it a tiny bit more different than the Civic sedan. But no…
Apparently it will be powered by a 1.5 Liter Turbo. Which will act mostly as a generator for the electric motor.
(Which sounds like a non-plug-in version of the Volt technology ?)
We should see the whole thing in just a few days now. And the production model in a few months.

Conversation 11 comments

  1. First of all, this is what the Civic should have looked like in the first place, not the abomination we got. Second, i don't see the point of calling it an Insight, when it is very clearly just a restyled Civic sedan.

  2. It's simple, really. It's Honda's Prius, and Honda played it safe.

    This or the Prius – which would you choose?

  3. I actually really like it. I think it will appeal to the green car buyer looking for something not as ugly as a Prius, and not as entry level as a Civic / Bolt. It's a good looking hybrid for a good price.

  4. I would have liked it more if it were a hatchback like before. It will have Li-ion pack and get 50+ mpg so on par with a Prius but without the ugliness or practicality of the hatchback. I doubt it will break any sales records.

  5. Nice except for the huge chrome bar above the grille and the Kia taillights. Better looking than the Civic and Accord.

  6. It's too bad they couldn't have made the Insight out of a heavily cleaned up Civic hatchback, now that's a vehicle in desperate need of a styling redo.

  7. I work at a Honda dealer. We are very excited about this. A hybrid with a conservative design is what the market needs. People who buy there's are retired and want a car that looks like the accord but is better for the environment.

  8. I wanted to argue that Honda realizes that marketing their regular bread and butter vehicles with "Hybrid" badges is less successful than Toyota marketing theirs under a specific "family" name (Prius), but the previous two Insights and the CR-Z didn't exactly light the world on fire compared to the Civic Hybrid, which was literally everywhere in California. But I'm guessing the marketing types saw the new Civic Hybrid being developed, liked that the styling was more differentiated from the regular Civic than in previous generations, and begged to give the Insight name another chance at eventually becoming a multi-powertrain "family" like the Clarity.. maybe adding a plug-in or full electric version, or even bringing back the NGV model. But I really doubt it will sell any better than if they had just labeled it Civic Hybrid.

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