Honda is discontinuing its Insight hybrid after more than a decade of lackluster sales.
Sales lagged far behind the Toyota Prius, which is now the industry benchmark for dual-powered cars. According to Toyota said it has sold 3.19 million Prius hybrids since its introduction compared to 280,629 for the Insight. In November, Honda told its dealer network that production of the vehicle would stop this month, Honda spokeswoman Yuka Abe told Bloomberg.
The Insight is technologically less advanced than the Prius and returned less impressive fuel economy. It uses Honda’s Integrated Motor Assist (IMA) system that requires the engine to be running at all times to power the car. Honda also stopped selling the Insight in 2006 but brought it back in 2009.