Honda has updated the interior and exterior of the 2012 Insight - but the big selling point may be the hatchbacks improved mileage.
Honda is hoping to pump some life into its slow-selling Insight hybrid for 2012 by adding more features, giving it a more high-tech appearance – and bumping up its mileage.
There’s no question the Insight needs some help. Sales have lagged significantly below expectations for a vehicle Honda had once hoped might pose a real challenge to the gas-electric segment’s king-of-the-hill the Toyota Prius.
The question is whether the newly-updated 2012 Honda Insight – with its revised styling and 44 mpg highway rating – can lure buyers in at a time when fuel prices have retreated and conventionally powered products, such as the comparably sized Hyundai Accent, are also delivering highway numbers in excess of 40 mpg.
Changes to the 2012 Honda Insight’s exterior include a more distinctive grille with a thin, blue accent bar to underscore its identity as one of the maker’s hybrid models. The ’12 also features restyled front and rear bumpers and updated head and taillamps, as well as restyled wheels. Meanwhile, changes meant to improve airflow under the vehicle yield a 2% improvement in overall aerodynamics.
Along with an updated gauge package the 2012 Honda Insight offers added rear head and legroom.
Interior refinements include an update gauge cluster designed to be more technically sophisticated in appearance, a reshaped center console and more rear seat leg and headroom.
But what could be the most appealing change can be found on the Monroney window sticker, where fuel economy jumps by 1 mpg due to improvements in the Insight’s 1.3-liter internal combustion engine and its Continuously Variable Transmission meant to reduce frictional losses. That bumps mileage to 41 mpg City, 44 Highway and 42 Combined, compared with 40/43/42 with the 2011 Honda Insight.
Notably, the Insight claims the highest fuel economy rating of any vehicle under $20,000 – the 2012 model featuring a base price of $18,350 plus $770 in destination charges. (A well-equipped Honda Insight EX will push closer to $25,000.)
But there are a growing number of vehicles delivering 40 mpg numbers – at least on the highway – for significantly less, such as the newly-updated Hyundai Accent, which yields 30 mpg City, 40 Highway and 34 mpg Combined – for just $13,025 base.
The steady improvement in the performance of the unadorned internal combustion engine may be one key reason why hybrid sales, in general, have been slipping in recent months, despite the run-up to near-record fuel prices earlier in 2011, gas-electric vehicles overall accounting for just 2.06% of the U.S. market, down from a peak of around 3%.
Insight, however, has been particularly slow, with sales of just 13,618 through the end of September, off 14.3% for the calendar-year-to-date. Last month saw a 69.5% year-over-year drop, with sales of just 512 of the 5-seat hybrids.
By comparison, the Prius – though also down sharply – clocked sales of 93,243 for the first nine months of 2011, while Honda’s CR-Z hybrid generated sales of 10,172.
The 2011 numbers aren’t necessarily an apples-to-apples comparison, Honda officials caution, noting that the company’s production was seriously disrupted by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that struck Northeast Japan. But analysts stress that even before that disaster the Insight was falling well short of expectations.
With U.S. fuel prices showing signs of rising again as the American economy steers clear of a double-dip recession Honda is betting that it can still breathe life into the Insight with the changes coming for 2012.