Honda Insight a Flop?

by Robert Farago

June 15th, 2009 10:52 AM

Bloomberg reports that Honda has dialed-back its US sales predictions for the Insight hybrid by a third. “First-year Sales of Honda’s gasoline-electric Insight, which debuted at U.S. dealerships in late March, may be between 50,000 and 60,000 units, John Mendel, the company’s U.S. executive vice president, said in a June 11 interview at Honda’s U.S. headquarters in Torrance. ‘I don’t think we’ll get to 90,000.'” (Bloomberg sat on this story for four days?) Apparently, Mendel forgot to explain the discrepancy between expectation and reality—so Hizzoner’s family firm did it for him . . .

“Gasoline prices in the U.S. have fallen 35 percent over the past year, eroding demand for fuel-efficient cars, even as the overall market has plunged 37 percent due to the recession. Toyota has cut the base price of the Prius by $1,000 to compete with the Insight.”

Spin please?

“Hybrid sales in the U.S. fell 38 percent through May to 100,337 units, just ahead of the market’s overall 37 percent drop, based on data compiled by Bloomberg News.”

Official spin please?

“Demand for Insight should pick up later in the year as the recession eases and fuel prices increase,” Mendel said.

Or, dare we say it, not. Oh, and does this tell us anything about the Chevrolet Volt’s prospects?

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4 of 51 comments

Norma on Jun 16, 2009
"For 37 mpg… about 4-5 better than what your average family sedan " I'll be surprised that there's any mid-sized family sedan currently available that can have a life-time economy average of 32-33 mpg. I can only think of Jetta TDI and Corolla which may exceed an average of 30 mpg. But both are small sedans.

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Don1967 on Jun 16, 2009
So you must subscribe to the Infinite Oil Theory? Or how about science in general? Do you mean science or the Al Gore bandwagon? Science says the world will likely run out of petroleum someday. It also says that the earth's climate never stays the same, and that the sun will eventually explode. Science considers all data, not just the data it likes, and it never stops questioning itself. Al Gore says we should latch onto one particular theory and one set of statistics. We should also mock the dissenting opinion, rather than engage it in rational debate. Of course, you already know that, don't you?

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U mad scientist on Jun 16, 2009
Science says the world will likely run out of petroleum someday. It also says that the earth's climate never stays the same, and that the sun will eventually explode. Science considers all data, not just the data it likes, and it never stops questioning itself. That someday is reasonably predictable given accurate reserve figures. Also, science is actually fairly close to the "al gore theory". You may want to peruse this entire thread before heading down that path: http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/omb-memo-criticizes-epa-co2-ruling/

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IMAdriver on Jun 16, 2009

It also depends on how one feels about high gas prices. I'm not a tree hugger, but I'd rather pay more for gas if the taxes went to my own country rather than some middle eastern nation that hates my country and myself. The less gas I use, the better in this case.

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