Comments on: Why does the new Honda Insight so greatly resemble the Toyota Prius?

By: peacefuldisaster

peacefuldisaster — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 23:50:22 +0000

The body style of the Insight is designed to reduce drag to maximize fuel efficiency. This was not done to the Civic Hybrid because Honda wanted it to still look like a Civic. With the new generation Insight, Honda could take advantage of a different body style to increase fuel efficiency, which happens to be what Toyota engineers did with the Prius years before.

By: Windowphobe

Windowphobe — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 09:36:05 +0000

Neither of Honda’s other hybrids – Civic or Accord – was selling well (the Accord version has since been dropped), and someone at Honda apparently decided that the reason they weren’t selling well was because they were indistinguishable from their more-ordinary brandmates.

The Prius looks like no other Toyota, and I suspect that people flocked to it because it was easily recognizable, especially people for whom it is important to appear to be environmentally concerned. (Which is no different, really, from the 16-year-old who wants the coolest-looking car in the high-school parking lot; we all are motivated at least somewhat by automotive appearance. This doesn’t explain the Dodge Caliber, but you can’t have everything.)

So Honda decided to avoid both looking like the previous Insight or like its other cars, and hit upon a very aerodynamic (good for fuel economy) design with a sharp cutoff in the back. Which is, as noted, a design that looks very Prius-y. Still, if you want to be recognized from a distance as someone with impeccable green credentials, now you have two choices at popular prices.

By: Vipassana

Vipassana — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 15:22:30 +0000

The Prius is the darling?

Since when?

Also, the Insight is years old…if you haven’t noticed, ideas that are popular, get imitated…which is why so many cars on the market look similar to each other.

You must be new to the car owning world, if you think this is od…