Honda Insight advanced technology

Called the Insight, the car will be revealed weeks ahead of its official on-sale date early in December.  The Insight will feature on the Honda Stand alongside the company’s new sports hybrid, the CR-Z (see page XXX) features a lightweight compact hybrid system that combines exceptional fuel economy with low emissions in a practical, flexible five-door package. 

The Insight features a lighter, more durable and powerful hybrid system combining a 1.3-litre i-VTEC four-cylinder petrol engine and Honda’s proprietary Integrated Motor Assist (IMA) electric drive motor.

The Insight is the culmination of over 20 years of hybrid development and more than 35 years of lower impact petrol engine development, which started with the CVCC engine in the Honda Civic in 1972.

This is a car that encourages economical driving via its Ecological Drive Assist System (Eco Assist) system. Eco Assist has three functions – ‘Econ’ mode, ‘Guidance’ and ‘Scoring’ – and is activated by pushing the Econ button on the dash.

In Econ mode, with the touch of a button, the Insight adjusts engine output, extends the duration of idle stop, increases regenerative recharging and achieves energy-saving control of the air conditioning. The result is even greater fuel efficiency.

In Guidance mode, the Insight assesses acceleration and braking practices in real time, and changes the speedometer background colour to represent the level of fuel-efficiency of the driving style. Drivers can achieve greater fuel efficiency simply by watching the intuitive colour display.

In Scoring mode, the Multi-Information Display scores the achieved economy graphically (by displaying a number of ‘leaves’ to indicate the level of fuel-efficient driving performance). When the ignition is turned off, a score for the latest trip (from start-up to shutdown) and a score for cumulative lifetime fuel efficiency are displayed.

Since leaves appear and ‘grow’ as driving practices become more fuel efficient, the scoring function encourages drivers to take interest in fuel efficiency and develop more fuel-efficient driving habits over the long term.

Honda has been building hybrid vehicles for a decade. In that time, a lot has been learnt about the production of electric motors and other key parts of the hybrid system. The past decade has seen Honda improve production techniques and reduce costs, making hybrid technology available to a wider range of consumers.

Honda was motivated to build a more affordable hybrid to realise its global philosophy – to be “a company that society wants to exist”. Honda chose to bring low emission hybrid technology to the masses by using its engineering experience to reduce costs and therefore retail prices.

When the new Honda Insight goes on sale in December it will be Australia’s most affordable new hybrid car.