I take no joy in this but it is a teaching moment. The Honda IMA actually makes a significant improvement in low-end torque of a relatively smaller ICE. But that single motor-generator model has efficiency problems with low speed, stop and go performance.

There are driving profiles, cruising on the highway, for whom the Honda IMA systems are perfectly adequate but this is also the optimum profile shared of the Jetta TDI. If we see any market share swings between competitors, it will be between the Honda IMA and Jetta TDI.

Bob Wilson

Will the Prius hit US sales targets for 2009?

I would be very surprised if they didn't.

For the Chicago region:

Toyota Prius sold in the second half of May: 376
Honda Insights sold in the full month of May: 67

I hope it does, I plan to buy one...came close last Friday.

Its a subpar attempt considering how much time they had to improve on the first gen Insight. The Prius is better is pretty much every aspect. Honda made a half ass attempt here and the sales numbers thus far show it.

If gas prices continue to climb though, it will help the Insight (and the Prius).

Any half dead Toyota salesman can punch a gazillion holes in the Insight. When you start learning the mechanics behind it, it is VERY apparent that Honda brought out the Insight and assumed price alone would take away sales. It almost seems as though Honda took the "average" buyer and didn't give them enough credit for knowledge of hybrid systems.

I recently had a customer come in and tell me they were comparing the two. After a fifteen minute lesson on how the two different systems vary, I got the order. The customer commented that all the Honda guy kept saying was that they were $2,500 cheaper and brushed off any questions they had about how they worked.

Funny thing, here in Hybrid-City (LA) I have actually seen 3 or 4 new Insights on the freeways, and have yet to see my first '10 Prius, and I do 90 miles a day on the 118 and 210 Freeways. The gen 1 and 2 Prius and even Hybrid Civics, are almost too numerous to count, but no new Prius so far.

I've only seen 2 Honda Insights around here and just had my first 2010 Prius sighting today.

I have not seen a single Insight nor a '10 Prius in the Sacramento area.

I have seen 4 Insights at the local dealer (1-2 sold) and 7 2010 Prius at the 2 local dealers so far (3 sold). On the open road I just saw my first Insight on Sunday and have yet to see a new Prius. Update: Saw my first open road 2010 Prius today.

I keep looking for another '10 Prius but none yet. The only Insights that I have seen are on the dealers lot so far.

I've seen three Insights on the road in West LA. The bright blue, (sky blue?) is so bright it just screams "notice me." One of my co-workers has the polished metal Insight EX. I had fun parking right next to it the other day. I wonder if he regrets getting the Insight before Toyota announced the Gen III pricing?

Saw another Blizzard Pearl Gen III the other day, but it had the California plates with only 4 or 5 numbers/letters so it must have been a demo or something.

A guy in a Gen II took pics of my Gen III at a stop light yesterday. He asked me what I was averaging so far, and I replied 55.6 MPG for the first 450 miles. He gave a big thumbs up.

I have yet to see either in Atlanta/Athens

You're after a Honda Insight, right?

Bob Wilson

Nope, 2010 Prius.

Thanks! The "It" was non-specific compared to the title.

GOOD LUCK!
Bob Wilson

ps. Folks at work who ask about our 2010, I answer, "It is a f*ckin spaceship!" I work at Marshall Space Flight Center and we know spacecraft.

weather we see them or not on roads has really nothing to do with sales, which we will see in actual sales reports.

I think problem with Fit is mainly that it is too expensive compared to Prius, something very blatant in UK reviews where Prius is a lot more expensive than Insight (more so than in USA) and yet all journalists had no problems with reccomending Prius - it is completly different league of vehicle.

It sure does look like Honda will miss that target, by a wide margin. As reported in http://priuschat.com/forums/prius-hybrid-news/64438-honda-insight-disappoints.html#post891713 another via the URLs below, Honda sold 2,079 Insights in the US in June 09. Toyota sold 12,998 Priuses (unclear of the mix of 09 vs. 2010) in the same period.

American Honda Motor Co., Inc. :: American Honda Reports June Sales
Pressroom : Toyota Reports June and First Half Sales / Toyota
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