Right Lane Cruiser
08-03-2009, 08:03 AM
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/2/Japanese_Flag_30x22.jpg "It will take time for Insight to catch up with the level of awareness and purchase intention that Prius has built up over several years." (http://www.autonews.com/article/20090803/ANA06/308039942/1186)
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/2010_Honda_Insight-II2.jpgMark Rechtin and Hans Greimel - AUTONEWS (http://www.autonews.com) - August 3, 2009
Hardly surprising for our readership, but that slow selling rate for the Insight is shocking. --Ed.
It's a good thing the redesigned Honda Insight is surpassing sales expectations in Japan, because its debut in the United States has been a disappointment.
Despite a major advertising campaign and the Insight's $2,000 price advantage over the redesigned Toyota Prius, U.S. consumers are not embracing Honda's new hybrid.
"Both are great cars [but] Prius is greenspeak for 'hybrid,'" said David Wilson, president of Wilson Automotive Group in Orange, Calif., which has both Honda and Toyota franchises.
Honda had hoped to sell 90,000 Insights a year in the United States, but the sour economy forced a revision at the time of the hybrid's March launch, to 60,000 units. So far Honda is far off that pace, with only 7,524 sales through June. By contrast, Toyota sold 55,751 Priuses from Jan. 1 through June.
TNS Compete, a marketing consulting firm in Boston, says it tracked 70,700 Prius shoppers in June and found that about 13,000 bought a Prius. Lincoln Merrihew, TNS' managing director, described the 18 percent conversion rate as healthy.
By contrast, TNS reported that about 40,000 Insight shoppers in June bought only 2,079 vehicles, a conversion rate of about 5 percent. Merrihew called that a typical ratio for a new-vehicle launch.
Wilson said: "Prius is also the most visually hybrid-looking of the two. If you are trying to make that environmentally conscious statement, Prius will be... http://www.autonews.com/article/20090803/ANA06/308039942/1186
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/2010_Honda_Insight-II2.jpgMark Rechtin and Hans Greimel - AUTONEWS (http://www.autonews.com) - August 3, 2009
Hardly surprising for our readership, but that slow selling rate for the Insight is shocking. --Ed.
It's a good thing the redesigned Honda Insight is surpassing sales expectations in Japan, because its debut in the United States has been a disappointment.
Despite a major advertising campaign and the Insight's $2,000 price advantage over the redesigned Toyota Prius, U.S. consumers are not embracing Honda's new hybrid.
"Both are great cars [but] Prius is greenspeak for 'hybrid,'" said David Wilson, president of Wilson Automotive Group in Orange, Calif., which has both Honda and Toyota franchises.
Honda had hoped to sell 90,000 Insights a year in the United States, but the sour economy forced a revision at the time of the hybrid's March launch, to 60,000 units. So far Honda is far off that pace, with only 7,524 sales through June. By contrast, Toyota sold 55,751 Priuses from Jan. 1 through June.
TNS Compete, a marketing consulting firm in Boston, says it tracked 70,700 Prius shoppers in June and found that about 13,000 bought a Prius. Lincoln Merrihew, TNS' managing director, described the 18 percent conversion rate as healthy.
By contrast, TNS reported that about 40,000 Insight shoppers in June bought only 2,079 vehicles, a conversion rate of about 5 percent. Merrihew called that a typical ratio for a new-vehicle launch.
Wilson said: "Prius is also the most visually hybrid-looking of the two. If you are trying to make that environmentally conscious statement, Prius will be... http://www.autonews.com/article/20090803/ANA06/308039942/1186