Honda Insight At Melbourne Motor Show

The world’s most affordable hybrid, the Honda Insight, will be the main attraction at the 2009 Melbourne Motor Show from 27 February to 9 March.

Mr. Fumihiko Ike, Chief Operating Officer of Regional Operations for Honda Asia Oceania announced the Insight’s arrival at his recent visit to Australia to launch the all-new Honda City.

Honda Australia’s Senior Director, Mr. Lindsay Smalley is looking forward to the Insight being available in Australia in the near future.

"After pioneering hybrid motoring in Australia with the original Insight in 2000 and following this with two generations of Civic Hybrid, we are looking forward to showcasing our latest innovation in hybrid technology with the second generation Insight.

"This is one part of our vision to offer more hybrid motoring options to the Australian public," Mr. Smalley said.

The all-new Insight hybrid vehicle is currently on sale in the United States and Japan.

The new Honda Insight has been designed to offer a practical, five-seat family car at an affordable price, with excellent fuel economy and low CO2 and other emissions. The Insight has a boot capacity of 408 litres with the seats up. The repackaging of the IPU and batteries means the Insight has seats which fold almost flat, increasing the boot capacity to approximately 1,017 litres.

Honda’s latest hybrid vehicle revives the Insight nameplate, which was first used in 2000 and marked the introduction of hybrid motoring to Australians. It also marks a return for Honda to producing hybrids in a dedicated aerodynamic body, designed to optimise the performance of the efficient petrol-electric hybrid drivetrain.

The Insight combines an optimised 1.3 litre i-VTEC engine, now with Vehicle Cylinder Management (VCM) which shuts down cylinders and in some cases all four cylinders, to reduce fuel and emissions. It has a compact thin electric motor that gives the engine assistance when increased performance is required and acts as a generator during deceleration and braking. It also allows electric only operation in some slow and medium speed conditions.

February 11, 2009