Report: Honda expects Insight hybrid to miss sales target

When Honda launched the 2010 Insight Hybrid last year, it expected to sell well over 200,000 units. However, the Japanese automaker now expects to miss that sales target after the Insight has been shunned in favor of the 2010 Toyota Prius by U.S. drivers.

Selling 200,000 Insights worldwide in the first year “looks tough,” Executive Vice President Koichi Kondo. “I think we compromised too much on size in pursuing fuel efficiency” for the North American market, he said.

Kondo said that the Insight is “too small” and that there isn’t enough room for U.S. customers in the back seat.

The Toyota Prius outsold the Insight 7-to-1 in the U.S. in the last quarter of 2009. Honda sold 130,445 Insights worldwide as of Dec. 31.

Check out our review of the 2010 Honda Insight.

Review: 2010 Honda Insight:

Review: 2010 Honda Insight Review: 2010 Honda Insight Review: 2010 Honda Insight Review: 2010 Honda Insight

All Photos Copyright © 2009 Omar Rana ““ egmCarTech.

– By: Kap Shah

Source: Bloomberg