Honda’s first-generation Insight

Since Honda’s first-generation Insight premièred in November of 1999, the company has sold in excess of 800,000 hybrid vehicles. The original Insight held the title for most fuel-efficient vehicle on the road.

Presently, Honda produces seven hybrid models for fifty countries around the globe. In 2011 alone, Honda sold approximately 200,000 vehicles worldwide, an astounding thirty percent sales increase from 2010. Consumers in the United Kingdom have purchased some 22,000 Honda hybrids since the Insight’s inception in British culture.

While it may be true that Honda stormed the world with its half-electric, fuel efficient progeny in 1999, more than a decade later it could serve to examine the auto industry’s trajectory since then, in relation to the advancement of fuel economy and whether or not hybrids are presently the leaders.

Honda’s current Insight can average around 64 miles per gallon while emitting carbon at the rate of around 100 grams per kilometre. These are fairly impressive numbers, but consider also the Ford Focus diesel of similar size, which averages over three gallons per mile more than the Insight, with a similarly low emission rate.

Furthermore, Honda’s CR-Z hybrid, at 56.5 miles per gallon and with a carbon emissions rate of 117grams per kilometre, is less efficient, and slower, than many non-hybrid mini hatchbacks. Clearly, despite Honda’s standing reputation as the cutting edge of fuel efficient technology, many others are doing a better job today with non-hybrids than Honda is doing with mixed electric and petrol.