Posted by: Anthony Lim
Toyota rolled out the revamped Prius on Mon, and said it already had 80,000 advance orders in Japan for the remodeled hybrid amid intensifying competition with Honda’s rival offering, the Insight.
The world’s largest automaker said it aims to sell up to 400,000 units globally a year of the car.
“We are resting the future of cars in this model,” said incoming president Akio Toyoda, the grandson of the company’s founder, who drove the new model onto a stage at a packed Tokyo showroom.
Sharper shape.
Both Toyoda’s presence and the new Prius are symbolic of Toyota’s pursuit of a turnaround from its worst annual loss since its 1937 founding.
The Prius, now in its third generation since... (more...)
Posted by: Anthony Lim
Orders for the hybrid Insight have totaled 18,000 since it hit the Japanese auto market about a month ago, outpacing Honda’s target and underlining the success of the new affordable and ecological vehicle, the company said today.
The brisk demand for the gas-electric hybrid is a rare piece of good news for Honda, which was hoping for the Insight’s monthly sales to reach 5,000 vehicles.
Yes, new Insight, and a clear one at that.
The Insight starts at 1.89mil yen (US$19,000) in Japan, and Honda said today that it will price the Insight starting at US$19,800 in the US, where it will go on sale Mar 24 as the cheapest hybrid on the commercial market. The Insight also goes on sale in Europe in this month.
Oil prices... (more...)
Posted by: Anthony Lim
Lexus will be presenting the new RX 450h crossover at the Geneva Motor Show this week.
Big, but effiecient, that’s the go with this one.
Powered by a series/parallel hybrid system employing a 3.5l V6 petrol block and two powerful electric motors working in tandem to provide the juice for the four-wheel drive vehicle, the RX 450h will have 295bhp on call, a top speed of 200kmh and a 7.8sec 0-100kmh acceleration time for basic figures.
Meaty, in every sense of the word.
The other initial figures for the vehicle are in the areas of efficiency; the revised Lexus Hybrid Drive system in use here offers a significantly lower CO2 emissions level of 148g/km, a figure that bests the competition in the premium crossover... (more...)
Honda Insight Concept to debut in Paris
Posted by: Anthony Lim
Honda will reveal a concept version of its new small hybrid vehicle, to be named Insight, at the 2008 Paris International Auto Show next month.
The new Insight Concept shares styling cues with the Honda FCX Clarity fuel cell vehicle and will provide an early look at the highly-anticipated five-passenger hybrid vehicle.
A better Insight into things now.
The vehicle goes on sale in the US next spring, and is expected to enter the market at a price significantly below hybrids available today.
Evoking the innovative styling cues first seen in the FCX Clarity, the production Insight will be offered as a five-door, five-passenger hatchback, and will utilise a more cost-efficient... (more...)
