Honda steers Insight toward the mainstream

DETROIT -- The Honda Insight is no longer forgoing style for fuel economy.

The previous two generations of America's first hybrid nameplate brought efficiency to the table as intended, but potential consumers had to swallow the packaging that came with it -- first, an awkwardly futuristic model, and then, a blander imitation of the Toyota Prius.

Honda says it's now done making that trade-off.

The third-generation 2019 Insight launches nationwide this year, and a prototype makes its world debut Monday at the Detroit auto show, as Honda marches toward a goal of electrifying two-thirds of its vehicles globally by around 2030.

Honda anticipates the Insight will receive an EPA fuel economy rating that tops 50 mpg in combined city and highway driving, which would put it close to the range of the Prius and Hyundai Ioniq hatchbacks.

The third-generation Insight, shedding the boxy rear end that distinguishes many hybrids, now bears the sleek design profile of the Civic and recently redesigned Accord sedans. It wears Honda's "flying wing" grille and a bold fascia, along with what Honda calls a "sweeping, coupe-like roofline."

It's the "anti-Prius," says Dave Sullivan, an analyst with research company AutoPacific.

"I was relieved to see a more conventional design," Sullivan told Automotive News. "In order for hybrids to continue to move more mainstream, the design needs to be more mainstream. Looking at a vehicle like the Prius, the design is extremely polarizing, to the point that it might be turning off some consumers."

The Insight, which debuted in 1999 as the U.S. market's first gasoline-electric hybrid, had its best-selling year in 2010, with 20,962 vehicles. But it has been a poor match for the Prius, whose superlative mpg numbers caught the wave of escalating fuel prices in the mid-2000s and made it the darling of Silicon Valley elites and Hollywood celebrities before there was a Tesla. U.S. sales of the Prius family peaked in 2012 at 236,659 vehicles.

More than 2.2 million Priuses have been sold in the U.S. since the nameplate arrived in 2000. Honda has sold just 87,313 Insights since 1999.

The Insight will be positioned above the Civic in Honda's car lineup and stand outside Honda's Clarity subbrand of electrified vehicles, which includes a battery EV, a plug-in hybrid and a fuel cell model. Honda's electrified offerings also include the Accord Hybrid.

The Insight will be powered by Honda's two-motor hybrid system. It will feature various safety and driver-assistance technologies such as lane-departure warning, adaptive cruise control and road-departure mitigation as Honda moves to include more advanced safety systems as standard equipment across its lineup.

"The new Insight shows the direction we want to take with all of our new electrified vehicles -- products that ask no compromise and are broadly appealing in terms of design, performance [and] premium features," Henio Arcangeli Jr., senior vice president of automobile sales and general manager of the Honda division, said during a product preview in December. "We want to offer great cars that happen to be electrified."