Lack of Insight: Why Honda's Toyota Prius rival was the right car at the wrong time and spoiled the brand's hybrid plans

Earlier this year the Toyota Prius quietly disappeared from the Australian market after 21 years on sale. While never the brand’s biggest seller, it helped establish Toyota as the leader in hybrid sales in this country.

The current success of the hybrid RAV4, Corolla and other Toyota (and Lexus) models owe a great debt of gratitude to the Prius laying the foundation. The Prius was the hybrid pioneer in Australia - except it wasn’t.

The Honda Insight actually beat the Toyota to market by six months, but whereas the Prius became a brand icon, the Insight disappeared in the early 2000s only to reappear in 2010 for another short-lived attempt.

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Which was a shame, because Honda was hoping to enjoy a similar success story to Toyota, with the Insight showcasing its hybrid powertrains that would eventually expand across its line-up. There were multiple attempts for Honda to leverage the Insight, and the technology did eventually spread across the range but not with the same impact that Toyota enjoyed thanks to the Prius.

While the Prius became a polarising poster child for environmentally-friendly motoring, with Hollywood celebrities flocking to the Japanese sedan at its peak in the mid-2000s, the Insight was largely hidden in plain sight.

But the success of the Prius arguably proved that the Insight was the right car, but simply arrived at the wrong time. Maybe the first generation needed more time to establish itself before the Prius landed and stole its thunder, or perhaps the Honda would have been better served following and allowing Toyota to lay the groundwork for hybrid acceptance in Australia.

Of course, it didn’t help that it was a small car that cost more than $50,000 at a time when conventional rivals cost less than $35,000. As it was, the original Insight only sold less than 60 examples before Honda pulled the pin.

When it returned in 2010, it was a much better proposition, priced at just over $33,000, or the equivalent of a top-spec petrol rival, and well-equipped it was seemingly well-placed to take advantage of the buying shift towards fuel-efficient cars.

The first gen. Insight was basically a 1990s vision of the future.

Unfortunately for Honda, this also at a time when when customers were shifting towards SUVs, particularly compact models. So the Insight, once again, failed to find buyers in big numbers and by 2014, it was discontinued after selling approximately 1200 cars.

Arguing that a model that sold less than 1300 cars across two generations was the ‘right car’ seems like a hard argument to make. But the success of the Prius and the impact it had on Toyota’s broader range, shows that Honda was on the right path by moving to hybrids when it did.

And taking a look at Honda Australia's current 2022 line-up, there is a hybrid available in the HR-V and an electrified version of the Civic will hit showrooms before the end of the year.

The crucial new-generation CR-V will also be available with a hybrid powertrain at some point, so the Insight really did herald Honda's electric future.