This Honda is likely to cost less than the Prius, but is slightly less fuel efficient.
A 13-horsepower electric motor between the 88-horsepower four-cylinder engine and the continuously variable transmission. The combination delivers 98 horsepower and enough torque to let you accelerate away from a traffic light with a grin. - WIRED.com
The new Honda Insight hybrid promises to revolutionize the hybrid market by making gas-electric cars affordable. But the five-door hatchback with a rock-bottom price isn't the Prius killer Honda might have hoped for.
Honda isn't saying exactly what the car unveiled today at the Detroit auto show will cost when it rolls into showrooms on April 22 (Earth Day) but it will undercut the Toyota Prius by several thousand dollars. That won't be enough to knock a car that's synonymous with hybrid technology from its pedestal, but the 2010 Insight poses the first credible threat to Toyota's dominance of the hybrid market.
It's widely expected to cost no more than $20,000, and Honda almost certainly will sell every one of the 100,000 Insights destined for North America this year. Analysts say as many as half those sales could be siphoned away from Toyota. The next-generation Prius will debut during the show.
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