LA Times: Honda's Insight hybrid stalls in sales race with Toyota's Prius - GreenHybrid

cwerdna · #1 (**permalink**) 07-28-2009, 11:14 AM

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-f...,5682189.story

We'll see the July 09 sales numbers next week...

arbittan · #2 (**permalink**) 07-30-2009, 09:03 AM

People buy what they want to buy. Personally I chose the Insight over the 2nd Generation Prius because of ride and overall appearance.

I test drove the Prius a number of times prior to finalizing my deal with the Insight.

Admittingly, I am dissapointed with Honda's decisions about what to equip the American edition when compared to what is offered in Japan and in Europe.

Hopefully Honda will correct the issues or they will just kill the Insight for the States...

cwerdna · #3 (**permalink**) 07-31-2009, 01:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spinner

Good luck with your trolling.

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news0...ius_aging.html

Just goes to show that the main driver for hybrid purchases is vanity. I assure you that Toyota isn't earning it by any other factor.

"Consumer Affairs" is crap. They're just a magnet for complaints and like to slant/exaggerate issues. It's not even worth it for a prospective buyer of any vehicle to go there.

The Prius was named amongst the most reliable used cars at http://blogs.consumerreports.org/car...ed-cars-1.html. The previous gen was named best overall value by them too at http://pressroom.consumerreports.org...alue-list.html.

It also got the highest score for owner satisfaction 5 years in a row at Consumer Reports (http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/c...view/index.htm). "Ninety-three percent of Prius owners who responded said they would definitely buy or lease one again."

Only 80% said the same thing for the Civic Hybrid (http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/c...tisfaction.htm, but you need a subscription to see that page.) Admittedly, 80% is still a pretty good score for the category the HCH is in (small cars). It was the 2nd highest score in the category w/the highest being the Fit at 83%.

If you read http://www.consumeraffairs.com/automotive/honda.html, you'd think that lots of Hondas are crap too yet virtually all Hondas have very good reliability.

BTW, let's compare CR's reliability ratings of the HCH vs. the Prius. Also, see how many Honda hybrids at http://avt.inl.gov/hev.shtml needed replacement transmissions and catalytic converters at the ~90K mile mark vs. Toyota hybrids.

Your constant Toyota bashing and seemingly blind devotion and praise of Hondas while ignoring the negatives is both somewhat annoying and comical. I'm not a troll and have no particular strong brand loyalty. Even though I've never owned a Honda, I'll say that Toyota and Honda are about the only two automakers where I'd be willing to buy a 1st model year of a car/redesign. (I even stated this months ago at http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii-...tml#post841116.)

cwerdna · #4 (**permalink**) 08-04-2009, 01:06 AM

In the US for July 2009:
Toyota sold 19,173 Priuses (unclear of the mix of 09s vs. 2010s)
Honda sold 2,295 Insights and 969 HCHs.

http://news.prnewswire.com/ViewConte...5070840&EDATE=
http://corporate.honda.com/press/article.aspx?id=5114

arbittan · #5 (**permalink**) 08-04-2009, 05:18 AM

You know what, to me, I could care less about what the sales figures are.
Sure toyota sold more than Honda but I can tell it is quite refreshing to see an Insight on the road every once in a while.

In fact the last one I saw, the person driving it waved at me acknowledging that we are both driving an Insight.

I have yet to have another hybrid owner of any brand wave at me for just basic acknowledgement that we are both driving a hybrid.

Where I live there are too many Prius cars.

MrEWorm · #6 (**permalink**) 08-04-2009, 06:12 AM

Michael Jackson sold the most CD's last month. Is the Prius dead too?

Per K · #7 (**permalink**) 08-11-2009, 09:46 PM

I was disappointed in the Insight when it came out. I'm afraid Honda made another Accord hybrid blunder with the new Insight. The fact it is a smaller, lighter car than the HCH, yet gets worse mileage, does not compute. Yes I know they geared it differently than the HCH, and that is the main reason for the poorer mileage, but I had hoped Honda would actually improve on the system, to where it would be more competitive with the Prius on mileage. Hopefully we'll see that in the next HCH. I would like to see Honda leapfrog Toyota, and come out with a plug-in hybrid that could move under electric power alone under conditions where electric is more efficient than gas. Overall I think the Honda system is more efficient than the Toyota system--especially at highway speeds, but it needs to be tweaked. Come on, Honda!