Auto Knight » Honda

Honda Insight Base Price To Be $19,800

Darren — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 11:12:59 +0000

The base price of the new Honda Insight will come in just under $20,000 at $19,800.

The model is aimed directly at the popular Toyota Prius. With a competitive price and advanced fuel efficiency, Honda Motor Co. thinks they may have created a “Prius killer.”

The Prius carries a base sticker price of $22,000. It looks as if Honda has decided to look for the value-oriented shoppers who are obviously concerned with both gas prices and total cost of ownership.

The Honda Insight is also $4,000 less than the popular Honda Civic. Honda plans on making hybrids an attractive alternative to even its own popular car lines. With several new lines coming in the hybrid lineups, this could be the year the hybrid vehicle comes of age.

The 2010 Toyota Prius will offer 50mpg combined gas mileage and will be available on US car lots in June.

The war of hybrids is on in earnest.

Honda Insight Hybrid Shooting For Sub-$20,000 Price Tag

Darren — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 13:00:32 +0000

The new Honda Insight hybrid might sell for under $20,000, if Honda can get all the details just right. Right now that might be difficult due to the fact the Insight is produced in Japan and the Yen is currently so strong.

Honda plans to start selling the vehicle in the U.S. in April of this year.

One solution to make the car more affordable to produce would be to move production to America. Honda President Takeo Fukui said the company would do just that if sales volume in the States exceeds 100,000 units per year.

If Honda can keep the price around $20,000, it would still offer at least a 10% advantage against the popular Toyota Prius. With consumers being so price-conscious these days, that could be the difference between making a sale or not.

The Insight has already gone on sale in the Japanese market this week.

The Honda Insight is also expected to be the star of this year’s 2009 Melbourne Motor Show, which takes place from February 27th to March 9th.

“After pioneering hybrid motoring in Australia with the original Insight in 2000 and following this with two generations of Civic Hybrid, we are looking forward to showcasing our latest innovation in hybrid technology with the second generation Insight,” said Lindsay Smalley, Honda Australia’s Senior Director.

“This is one part of our vision to offer more hybrid motoring options to the Australian public,” Mr. Smalley said.

Honda Lowers Forecast

Darren — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 10:29:55 +0000

Honda has been in the habit of lowering their forecasts lately, and the company has announced they’ll be doing it again. For the fourth time already this year, Honda is predicting lower profits.

Honda, Japan’s second largest auto manufacturer after Toyota, said it now expected a net profit of 80 billion yen for the year ending March 31, rather than the 185 billion yen it had forecast as recently as December. Operating profits are now seen totaling 140 billion yen, rather than 180 billion yen. For the third quarter of the business year — October-December — Honda reported a 90 percent plunge in net profits to 20.2 billion, well below the 32 billion that analysts had expected. Honda shares fell 9.2 percent Friday.
With the economies of most of the world’s economies in the dumper, such results are becoming common place. In particular, worsening conditions in the Japanese auto market have kept sales down.

The current global downturn has hurt sales at all auto makers, even the ones who have traditionally built fuel efficient cars. Since less people are getting approved for credit, less people are buying cars.

Honda Begins Producing Civics In Indiana

Darren — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 13:51:03 +0000

Honda has begun mass production of Honda Civics. Honda is producing new, fuel-efficient, 4-cylinder Honda Civic sedans at their new facility in Greensburg, Indiana. The facility, which cost $550 million to build, will ultimately produce 200,000 vehicles, and employ 2,000 associates at full capacity. The project has been a boom to local autoworkers.

“With continued high demand for the Honda Civic, we are honored and excited to help meet the needs of our customers in North America,” said Yuzo Uenohara, president of Honda Manufacturing of Indiana (HMIN). “Our new Indiana associates are dedicated to building the very best Honda products, with customer satisfaction as our top goal.”

Honda announced building the plant in 2006.

“We’ve reached this milestone thanks to great cooperation and support from Indiana’s state and local leaders,” said Rick Schostek, vice president of HMIN. “It was a team effort with INDOT, the Department of Workforce Development, the Indiana Department of Economic Development, Decatur County, the City of Greensburg and many others making important contributions to our successful startup.”