The 2010 Honda Insight (concept shown) takes some styling cues from Honda's FCX Clarity fuel-cell car.

What We Know About the 2010 Honda Insight

It won't appear in public until October 2nd at the Paris International Auto Show, but Honda’s promised low-cost “dedicated hybrid” car is coming into focus. The company confirmed the new model’s broad outlines in a late-May press briefing that gives us just enough detail to make good guesses about the specifics that are due to be released later this year.

The 2010 Honda Insight is due to start production early in calendar 2009 and should reach U.S. dealers by spring with a hoped-for starting price of less than $20,000. That compares with $22,600 for the 2008 Honda Civic Hybrid sedan, now the only gasoline/electric vehicle in the brand’s portfolio. The new Insight will be built alongside the Civic at Honda’s Suzuka plant in Japan, but on a specific (“dedicated”) platform shared with no other current Honda vehicle. In this way--and perhaps others, too--the 2010 Honda Insight mimics the top-selling Toyota Prius. However, Honda says it will also add a hybrid patterned on the sporty 2007 CR-Z concept coupe, as well as a gas/electric version of its Fit subcompact. Timing on these hasn’t been announced, but sources forecast the CR-Z by model-year 2012, the hybrid Fit by 2015.

Company officials say the 2010 Honda Insight will be a 5-passenger 4-door hatchback looking somewhat like the wedge-shaped FCX Clarity, the hydrogen-fuel-cell midsize sedan that’s now being leased to a handful of select Southern California consumers. The front-wheel-drive Insight will be smaller than Clarity, likely falling in the compact-car class. Our estimated dimensions are based in part on sightings of test prototypes based on the Honda Airwave, a compact high-body wagon not sold in the U.S.

The 2010 Honda Insight will use a lighter, simpler new version of the Civic Hybrid’s basic Integrated Motor Assist (IMA) drive system. Unlike other hybrid setups, notably Toyota’s, IMA uses a battery-powered electric motor only to assist the gasoline engine; the car does not run on electricity alone except in certain low-speed situations. Company talk of “significant” weight and cost reductions suggests the Hybrid’s IMA will have either a 3-cylinder engine or a small 4-cylinder with displacement of 1.0-1.3 liters. The engine, like the platform hosting it, should also be specific to the 2010 Honda Insight. Ditto the expected continuously variable automatic transmission (CVT). The motor and battery pack should also be exclusive, Honda-engineered components designed for maximum efficiency with minimum space, weight, and cost. The batteries, which reportedly tuck beneath the cargo floor, will be conventional nickel-metal-hydride (NiMH), not the more-advanced lithium-ion (LI) type. Honda believes LI batteries are not yet ready for mass-market cars because of their cost and concerns about overheating. That means the 2010 Honda Insight will not have plug-in capability like the 2011 Chevrolet Volt or the LI-powered Prius expected by 2012.

Demand for hybrids and other “green” vehicles is fast gaining momentum, especially in the U.S., and Honda clearly wants a big piece of this expanding pie. That explains reported heavy investment in the 2010 Honda Insight project, which includes expansion of the Suzuka plant (from 70,000 vehicles a year to around 250,000) and setting up new facilities to produce the electric motor and related components. Though Toyota is likely to remain far ahead of Honda in hybrid-vehicle sales, Japan’s number-two says it’s not in a race, only continuing its drive to make cars more environmentally responsible. In that regard, Honda touts its many years of pioneering low-emissions technology--and for being named “greenest automaker” by the Union of Concerned Scientists four years in a row (2004-07).

Still, the 2010 Honda Insight is no mere image-polishing exercise. As financial analyst Koichi Ogawa pointed out in a recent Reuters report: “When you say ‘hybrid,’ the image that really comes to mind is Prius. Honda is very dependent on the U.S. market, which is shifting towards things like hybrids, and for survival having a hybrid (model) is essential.” So, despite all the high-minded spin that will doubtless surround it, the 2010 Honda Insight is as much about earning greenbacks as greening-up the planet.

The 2010 Honda Insight Concept (right) is shown with the company's FCX Clarity (center) and CR-Z design study (left).

A Notable Feature of the 2010 Honda Insight

Despite its hoped for sub $20,000 base price, the 2010 Honda Insight shouldn’t skimp on essential features like antilock brakes and curtain side airbags. Other standard equipment remains to be seen, but we’d expect at least air conditioning, a multi-position rear “magic seat” a la Fit, and simple but attractive cabin appointments. Pricing would probably preclude fancy Prius-style options like keyless starting or a navigation system with rearview camera, but Honda marketers may have other ideas. As for fuel economy, it’s bound to be good, but just how good is impossible to say until we have specifics on vehicle weight, engine and motor outputs, battery capacity, and other essentials.

Buying Advice for the 2010 Honda Insight

The 2010 Honda Insight should appeal for affordability, high mpg, and Honda’s reputation for quality and strong resale value. Unfortunately, Honda’s answer to the Toyota Prius will have to take on a brand-new Prius that should beat it to market by several months. Expected next January as an early 2010 model, the new Prius is said to be somewhat larger yet lighter than today’s version, with better performance, higher fuel economy, and a longer electric-only driving range despite retaining NiMH batteries. Moreover, Toyota has a knack for removing cost in ways customers don’t usually notice, so the next Prius may well be priced very close to the new Honda. Still, the U.S. market has plenty of room for both cars, and Honda plans on sending over 100,000 of its Insight “dedicated hybrids” each year, fully one-half the model’s planned worldwide production. With all this, the 2010 Honda Insight should be readily available, but should also be in high demand with gas prices what they are, so be prepared to pay full sticker price and probably more.

2010 Honda Insight Release Date: There’s nothing firm at the moment, but Honda says U.S. sales will commence during the spring of 2009.

2010 Honda Insight First Test Drive: If the above timing holds, the 2010 Honda Insight would likely meet the press in early 2009.

2010 Honda Insight Prices: The less than $20,000 price is not official, only a well-founded expectation based on statements by Honda officials. Though we don’t doubt Honda can meet that target at the current dollar/yen exchange rate, any further major weakening in the greenback could push the announcement-day price above $20K. So could more big rises in raw-materials costs, a major headache for all automakers these days.

For more inside information on hundreds of new cars of today and tomorrow, check out:

• C­onsumer Guide New Car Reviews and Prices: Road test results, photos, specifications, and prices for hundreds of new cars, trucks, minivans, and SUVs from the Auto Editors of Consumer Guide.
• Honda: Read Consumer Guide's full reports, including ratings, prices, specifications, and fuel economy.
• Compact Cars: The 2010 Honda Insight will compete in the compact car class. Here's Consumer Guide's roundup of all the compact cars on sale today.
• 2008 Consumer Guide Best Buy and Recommended Award Winners:
  Check out which cars won our Best Buy and Recommended awards for 2008.
• Future Cars: Step into the automotive showroom of tomorrow with reviews, analysis, pictures, prices, and preliminary specifications on scores of vehicles that will be appearing next year and beyond.