Dashboard hybrid report - 2009 edition

I saw following news at Bloomberg.
Honda Says 'Too Small' Insight Hybrid May Miss Sales Target - Bloomberg.com

" Jan. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Honda Motor Co., Japan’s second- largest carmaker, expects to miss its sales target for the Insight hybrid after U.S. drivers shunned the model in favor of a revamped Toyota Motor Corp. Prius.

Selling 200,000 Insights worldwide in the first year “looks tough,†Executive Vice President Koichi Kondo said in an interview on Jan. 19 in Tokyo, where Honda is based. “I think we compromised too much on size in pursuing fuel efficiency†for the U.S. market, he said.

The Insight is “too small†and there isn’t enough room in the back seat for U.S. customers, Kondo said. The Prius outsold the Insight about seven-to-one in the U.S. in the last quarter of 2009 after Toyota introduced a revamped version of the world’s bestselling hybrid car in June.

Honda had sold 130,445 Insights worldwide as of Dec. 31 since introducing the car in Japan in February and in the U.S. in March. In the U.S., the company has sold 20,572 Insights. It expected to sell 90,000 there in the first year."

Ken@Japan