I remember the gas wars when I was a kid. I once filled up my ‘60 VW bug (I bought it used) for less than $2.00. Gas was 24.9¢. That’s right, less than a quarter a gallon. Yeah, yeah. I’m old.

The point is, when there are price wars, the consumer wins.

Toyota and Honda are going to go at it with their hybrid cars. Remember those three reasons why Honda’s New Insight Will Beat Out Toyota’s New Prius? We may have been right, eh? Honda introduced its hybrid Insight last month and it has already received 18,000 orders, more than three times its monthly sales target.

Toyota is countering by preparing to lower the price of its Prius and roll out a new hybrid less than Y2 million (Insight costs Y1.89million). But their new hybrid with an engine smaller than 1.5 litre, isn’t expected out until 2011.

In the end, however, the consumer is going to win this war.

Via: AFP

If you're new here and you like our articles, how about subscribing free for our updates via RSS feed.

The new Honda Insight is already hot in Japan. Orders are more than three times what was expected. “Overwhelming” says a Honda executive.

The car will be on sale in the States from April.

There are three reasons why the Honda Insight will beat out the Toyota Prius in the long run … maybe.

1. Honda Insight has a mass appeal – former mini-car owners, sedan-owners and minivan-owners are checking it out.
2. Honda Insight costs under $20,000, almost 20% less than a Toyota Prius.
3. Honda Insight boasts 61 miles per gallon, 33% BETTER than the Toyota Prius, and 20% BETTER than the new Prius due out this spring.

Economy is bad, gasoline prices unstable and leaning upwards, and the new Insight is not nearly as funky looking as the older one. My bet is this Honda Insight has a pretty good chance of making inroads into the market that the Prius now dominates.

Images via Autoblog

Orders for Honda Motor Co.’s environmentally friendly ultra fuel-efficient hybrid Insight hatchback have topped 10,000 units in just 10 days. The figure is double and then some the monthly sales goal set for the five-door vehicle.

Honda Insight Hybrid

The Insight base model of the Insight goes for $21,000 compared with $26,000 for the base model of Toyota Motor Corp.’s Prius hybrid hatchback.

It’s all about the price, industry analysts said.

Question – would you buy a fuel-efficient hybrid knowing it’s better for the environment even you have to drive it 10 years to get your money back out of it in savings?

Let us hear from you.

Toyota says it will launch as many as 10 new hybrid gas-electric models within the next four years IF the economic downturn doesn’t prevent them and IF there is renewed consumer demand.

When gas was $4+ gallon (US) consumers didn’t mind paying an extra $3-5,000. They seem to mind now that gas is half that price.

Toyota has a fleet of 500 plug-in Priuses that it will unleash next year. A new redesigned Prius and Lexus luxury sedan will be unveiled in Detroit.

Toyota will also unveil a concept car – a battery-electric vehicle for city use that the company hopes to put into production by 2012. Sales were down by half in December.

How soon we forget! Save gas when it is expensive. Gulp it down when it is not. Now is the time to save on gas, BEFORE the next oil crisis comes.

Edmunds.com, an online car research service, estimates that, as a result of the drop in gas prices, a Prius owner must now wait more than eight years to recoup the extra cost of the vehicle in fuel savings, compared with 3.5 years when the gas price climbed above $4 a gallon last spring.

Meanwhile, Honda’s “Prius-Fighter” the Insight Hybrid is coming, GM’s Volt is on its way – sometime in late 2010, while Cadillac has the Converj which is expected in 2012. I wonder if that will turn out to be true, or not …

Source: Nikkei (sub req)

Japanese carmakers, Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. are still going green. All the while, GM and America’s car makers have their hands out.

In separate events -

Nissan announced it was redesigning its Cube subcompact in hopes of moving in on the Japanese fetish for small cars that save on the miles. Nissan will sell the car around the world, not just in Japan as before. North America will see the car in spring of ‘09 ad Europe will see their version later in the year. The price – $14,000ish.

Meanwhile – Honda is debuting a gas-saving drive support system for its hybrid Insight coming out next spring also. With the flip of a switch, the driver can:

1. switch to Econ mode to ease the burden on the engine,
2. extend the time of the “idling stop,” which halts the engine when the vehicle stops,
3. incorporate a function that turns down the air conditioning,
4. boost the efficiency of “regeneration”.

The Insight’s speedometer will indicate fuel conservation – green for high efficiency and blue for high fuel consumption. Problem that those in Japan can identify with – blue is green.

Honda knows that fuel-saving cars and low inventory are the keys to staying competitive.

The company also knows that saving fuel is saving our environment and producing cars on demand doesn’t tax other global resources as well.

Honda’s President was interviewed – excerpts:

“Compact cars like the Jazz (known as the Fit in Japan) remain stable in the region, but we are having a hard time selling larger vehicles.” Duh?!

“…the rise in crude oil prices will have long-term implications for us. Accordingly, what we should do now is develop more inexpensive, fuel-efficient vehicles.” Why wait till the economy is a mess?

“It is equally important to improve the lineup of energy-saving vehicles. We will go into an offensive mode highlighting hybrid vehicles.”

Honda knows that making cars friendlier to our environment and less taxing on our resources is a long term solution. America’s Big Three! Are you reading?

Image courtesy of Clint M Chilcott

Honda Motor Co’s subcompact Fit is the best seller in Japan for the April-September period. Next in line were Toyota Motor Corp’s Corolla and Vitz models. With Japan paying well over $6/gallon for gas and the mini-cars being the best sellers in the land, it stands to reason that two of Japan’s big three would have the best selling mini-cars in the land of the Rising Sun.

Honda’s Fit has been the best seller for 11 consecutive months says the Japan Automobile Dealers Association. The big news, of course, is that Honda is outdoing Toyota when Toyota is king, queen, prince, princess, gosh, the whole court.

We have two Hondas and a Toyota at our house and I am test driving a Suzuki this week. Yeah, at the Belew’s it’s all about which Japanese car is best. How about your household?

John McCain wants to save fuel and reduce emissions. (Don’t we all?)  If elected he is willing to earmark $300 million to encourage innovation on a new car battery. I wonder if he couldn’t just buy the technology from Toyota for about half that price. That $300 million is equal to everyone in the United States ponying up $1. McCain wants to do better than Toyota’s hybrid technology.

McCain says the battery should have the “size, capacity, cost and power to leapfrog the commercially available plug-in hybrids or electric cars.  My administration will issue a Clean Car Challenge to the automakers of America, in the form of a single and substantial tax credit based on the reduction of carbon emissions. For every automaker who can sell a zero-emissions car, we will commit a 5,000 dollar tax credit for each and every customer who buys that car.“

A $5000 tax credit? Will that go for anyone buying the Honda FCX Clarity? McCain says that if the US can do Thomas Edison, the Wright brothers, Apollo moon landings, silicon chips and the Internet, then surely we can do a zero emission battery.

“For all the troubles and dangers our energy vulnerability presents, we know that we can overcome them, because we have overcome far worse problems and met far greater goals.”

So, what do you think? Does America have what it takes?

Leave it Honda to build an ultra efficient SUV-sized vehicle that can cover 1300 miles between fill ups. It carries 6-8 passengers – 8 Japanese but just 6, sometimes 5 or even 4 Americans.

But it doesn’t come cheaply.

The vehicle costs $1.5 million and the fuel costs are about 80 cents a mile. Comes to about $1000 per fill-up. (These figures may be a bit old…)

The vehicle is Honda’s Hondajet…a super efficient light jet that weighs about the same as an SUV.

And to think, so many people think of Honda as car and motorbike maker.

I wonder if my wife and kids remember this Sunday is Father’s Day.

On my wish list is a HondaJet. Oh, and flying lessons, too. Oh, and can I have a year’s worth of free fill ups, please?

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=5qWFH5Eb8ek[/youtube]

Images by frenchrice